Convergence
by satrix
Summary: MultiCrossover- An invasion is going to happen, can the supernatural save it. As she collided with him, their impact could have been heard for miles. He an immovable object and her an unstoppable force, love and lust colliding as one. Their passion could last days or weeks at a time. This was the only time that he could let go of his emotions. Suck at intros
1. Prelude

An early morning mist hovered over the lake just barely obscuring the water from the rising of the sun. Alice loved mornings like this. She finished her breakfast by wiping her hand across her lips to remove any blood from them. The buck she drank from was extremely satisfying. Deer were one of her favorite animals to hunt. She normally only hunted the ones close to death, like the old or injured. Today she caught a strong buck. She would have let it go, but that was the last deer in the area, and she needed to feed.

The wolves loved deer meat. Usually, Embry and Quil would make deer-jerky out of a large part of the carcass, but tonight may be a special treat from Leah, she sometimes made these venison kabobs that Renesmee loves so much. But, instead of heading back to the house with the deer like she normally does, she stashed it up high to protect it from wild scavengers' like bears or mountain lions. Today was different because she now can have some alone time with Jasper.

She reflected on how everything had changed since Jacob had imprinted on Renesmee. Jacob's pack had literally moved in with the Cullen's and went everywhere they went. She couldn't believe how everything fell into place. Normally vampires and wolves don't get along, but since the pack has been a part of Renesmee life since her birth they were there to stay. Their presence has become an awakening of life in the Cullen's world. Gone was the boring and tedious life of being a vampire where things were carefully measured, to a point where life became tedious. The dullness that comes from living for an eternity. The wolves brought chaos and drama to the lives of the Cullen's. At first, it was overwhelming for the vampires, many times, arguments would almost come to physical blows. But, eventually, things got into a rhythm and fell into place. Arguments still took place almost daily, through these arguments' bonds formed.

The vampires still needed their space to be alone. This was Alice and Jasper's time to be alone. She looked across the lake to where she knew he would appear. She saw him drop a bear on the beach of the lake. He was shirtless, and Alice could see the scars across his torso. She thought his scars were some of the sexiest things about him. He looked around the woods and stepped into the sun. His skin reflected the rays across the lake. He caught sight of her, and she could feel the waves of lust and love emanating from him. She raced along the edge of the lake towards him. Their lust and love mixing. Her body tingled with an excitement of things to come. She could smell his arousal emanating from him. She could no longer take it. She bolted towards him even faster. He watched her run towards him. His desire and longing growing stronger with each step she took. Her emotions building with his.

As she collided with him, their impact could have been heard for miles. He an immovable object and her an unstoppable force, love and lust colliding as one. Their passion could last days or weeks at a time. This was the only time that he could let go of his emotions. She could concentrate on the present and not worry about the future. Their time together was total bliss for both.

But, today was different. Today her gift, or a curse depending on when it came. Would override their passion. It caught her unprepared as the vision hit her. This vision was not normal. Usually, she would have to be thinking of someone if they made a choice it would allow her to see what would happen to the people she loved. She would be able know what was coming and could warn them. This vision was unlike anything she had before, this vision she knew not only affected her and her family, but one that affected everyone.

She knew she was visibly shaking, and that it took all of Jasper's strength to hold her down as her body thrashed about. She could not control herself, her body convulsions were out of her control. All because of this vision, it was so different from the ones she normally had. In her vision, she was hovering high above the Earth, as if she was a satellite in outer space. She saw a craft, shaped like a battle ax, coming out of the atmosphere. It climbed out of the atmosphere and turned its crescent shape front out towards space. As it was rotating itself towards deep space, it made a quick turn towards its right. She saw that it was facing three other crafts that came around the planet. These crafts differed from the first one she saw. They looked more like military tanks made for outer space. She could feel the emotions coming from each of the different crafts. The emotions were of astonishment, fear, and hatred all mixed in one.

She watched as two of the tank-like crafts move in front of the largest of the three as if they were protecting it. She saw three new ships suddenly appear near the moon. It shocked her when one of the new crafts fired a ball of light. The ball of light struck the large tank like craft and it exploded into a million pieces. She watched as the battle ax ship turned on its axis and then zoomed away faster than her eyes could see. The two other crafts that were protecting the now non-existence craft also fled in a different direction. She watched has the three-victorious crafts headed towards the moon.

In a blur that made her dizzy, her vision changed, this time she was on the moon. She saw one of the remaining crafts hovered over a crater. It lowered a circular device that had three metal fingers coming out of it. When the device was in the crater the metal fingers closed towards the top. The machine started to life when the fingers were almost touching. A greenish-yellow beam erupted from in between the metal fingers. The beam shot forth out of the machine and towards the Earth. As the beam reached the Earth's atmosphere. The Earth blurred in her vision. Instead, of seeing just one Earth she saw multiple Earths overlaid with each other. It reminded her of looking through a kaleidoscope. The beam changed from a greenish-yellow color to more of a bright yellow. She looked at the Earth again, this time instead of seeing Earth through a kaleidoscope. She saw a beautiful blue marble that was the Earth hanging in space like nothing happened.

She awoke from her vision to see Jasper looking at her with concern and worry in his eyes. "Everyone and everything will be in in so much danger," she whispered to him


	2. Chapter 01 In The Morning

****A/N****

****Hi and welcome to this story. I hope that you enjoy it.****

****Some info to help clarify things.****

****Think of this story as a TV show that has many different actors and plot lines. Almost like a soap-opera in a way. In the beginning it will seem like things are confusing since each chapter or scene will have different characters in it. Once you get used to one character, bam the story will change to another character. As the story progresses the characters will start to interact with each other more and hopefully, if I am successful you will be able to follow them with out any problems. I know that it will be hard to follow in the beginning, especially if you don't know the series from which the characters are based. I will try my best to make them interesting so that you will want to check them out. If you want to get a better understanding go over to Wikia/Fandom for the ones you don't know. They are a good resource to help acquaint yourself to the characters and their genre. ****

****This first chapter is to introduce the characters. Just to warn again it will seem disconnected and it jumps arounds. There are a lot of characters in this story. So, please bear with me as I lay the foundation for each of them. It will take some time to bring them all together. I hope that further in the story you can follow it.****

****Here is a list of Scenes in this first chapter and the genre that they come from:****

****01A Teen Wolf****

****01B Roswell****

****01C The Nine Lives of Chloe King****

****01D The Secret Circle****

****01E The Tomorrow People****

****01F I am Number Four****

****01G Underworld****

****01H Animorphs****

****01I Terminator: The Sarah Connor's Chronicles****

****01J Kyle XY****

****01K The Vampire Diaries****

****01L Covenant****

****01M Runaways****

****01N Shadowhunters****


	3. Chapter 01a A Wolf in the Morning

A news reporter on the TV: "It has been three months since terrorists attacked the Paradise High School. Authorities don't have a clue yet on who is behind this tragedy. So, far none of the known terrorist groups have come forward to claim responsibility..."

Scott was lying in his bed not ready yet to face the day. There was so much going on. But, his mind was not thinking about how Derek might kill one of his friends or that he was a werewolf with incredible powers. No, Scott's mind was focused on one thing… Allison. She had captivated his thoughts.

He was replaying in his mind the dream he had of her. She was coming out of a lake. The water was a crisp blue. The sun was shining perfectly to allow him to see her come up from the water. Her hair slicked back. Drops of water running down her forehead. He fixated his eyes on one drop in particular. This drop arced around her arched eyebrow. Then it slid down the side of her cheek showing off her porcelain pale skin. The drop landed on her shoulder. It kept moving down her chest. The drop hesitated as it reached the top of her breast. It was as if was trying to decide to go to the outside of her breast or go towards the inside where her cleavage was. Scott waited for the drop to decide in anticipation…

"Scott hurry or you will be late for school," yelled Melissa McCall from the kitchen as she was pouring herself a cup of coffee. A pile of bills laid on the table. She had picked up three back-to-back 12-hour shifts on top of her regular ones. But she was not sure even if that would be enough.

"I'm hurrying" stated Scott shaken out of his fantasy. He jumped out of bed and ran to the bathroom to do the morning routine, shower, shave, and relieve himself. Not necessarily in that order. He pulled his bandages off. The fight he had with Erica and Isaac was over. The wounds he had sustained were there. It amazed him at how fast he heals but, an Alpha made these wounds. Deaton said he would heal, but that he would take more time. He hoped that he would not have to fight Derek again. Fighting an Alpha was something he hopes he never wants to do again.

Scott open his mirror. He pulled out new bandages and redressed his wounds. He was trying to decide if he wanted to have his mother look at it, since she was a nurse at the hospital, just to make sure he was OK. But, thought better. Having her look at it would open too many questions he did not want to answer.

He wondered if Allison thought scars were sexy. Would she trace her finger over them and try to comfort him? Would she swell with pride at him having survived a fight? He shook his head trying to stop his mind from going down that road. He needed to get to school. He turned the shower on only using the cold handle. He desperately needed a cold shower this morning.

A news reporter on TV: "Now, in our follow-up section today. It has been a year since the explosion at the industrial park. The witnesses stated that they saw an airplane crash at the site are now recanting their story, but authorities are not saying why..."

"Good morning," Scott said as he came into the kitchen. His mom quickly tried to hide the envelopes she was looking at. Scott saw it anyway. He knew they were behind on some bills. The cable had been off for two weeks now. But, he didn't mention it to his mom. He knew she was doing the best she could.

"Morning, you want some breakfast before you go off to school?" Melissa said as she got up from the table looking in the refrigerator. She literally needed to go to the grocery store there was barely anything edible in the house.

"I got this," Scott said as he reached for the milk to pour it on his huge bowl of cereal, sat down at the table and ate.

"I definitely need to get to the store," Melissa mumbled to herself as she pulled her dark hair out of her face. "This kid will eat me out of house and home," she thought.

"I have to work a double tonight, so you will be on your own for dinner." stated Melissa trying to hold back a yawn.

"Mom, do you have to? Why don't you call in sick?" Scott said. "You have been working so hard lately."

"We have been through this before Scott. I am too tired to argue with you. Once we get caught up on some bills. I can take some time off. Plus, some new doctors are coming in to start working on the night shift. So, they want a charge nurse on the floor in case anything happens." She stated as she ran her fingers through Scott's dark hair. He smiled up at her. She turned await from Scott and started walking up the stairs.

Scott finished his cereal in three big scoops, then put his bowl in the sink. Grabbed his helmet and went out the door. Slinging his backpack over his shoulders as he got on his motorcycle and headed off toward school.

Scott pulled off his helmet as he got off his motorcycle. He grabbed the keys and turned around right into Stiles.

"Hi," he said smiling at his best friend and taking a step back. He could tell that Stiles was hyper.

"OK, I was up all night and the thing is written in Archaic Latin. Who even can read this?" said Stile running his hands through his short hair. His mind going a hundred miles per hour.

"So, what did she say?" ask Scott.

"Dude we have more important things to think about than be a messenger to you two lovey-dovey love birds," said Stiles having a spas attack.

"C'mon," said Scott giving his best friend a crooked smile.

"No, No, No," said Stiles walking towards the school. "I am done being the Hallmark poster boy for you two."

"Hey, wait up," said Scott as he went after his best friend.


	4. Chapter 01b Max What Did You Do?

Max was staring at himself in the mirror. Thinking to himself of what he did and trying to figure out why he did it. So, many emotions were going through him. But they all seemed to keep bringing him back to Liz. The most beautiful, spectacular, captivating woman... "There you go again." Max thought to himself.

"Max, are you ok?" asked Isabel as she walked into Max's room.

Max could see her face in the mirror it had concern written all over it. He knew he had to have this talk with his sister. He could keep nothing from her or Michael. He did not want to have it now.

"I'm not sure Izzy," stated Max turning from the mirror. "Yesterday, I might have done something that maybe I should not have."

"Max what did you do?"

"I was at the Crashed Down café yesterday with Michael." said Max.

"Well, this can't be good." stated Isabel sarcastically. She moved to the mirror pushing Max out of the way to check her makeup.

"This has nothing to do with Michael." stated Max in defense of his friend. Max saw Isabel roll her eyes.

"Good morning," said Mrs. Evans as she poked her head into the room. "Are you ready for school?"

"Good morning mom," Isabel said turning from the mirror. Max nodded to his mom.

"Your dad and I will have to go out of town this weekend for a client meeting." Mrs. Evans said. "Now, there is plenty of food in the house. I just don't want any wild parties while we are gone."

"Mom, everything will be ok." stated Max seriously.

"I know you and Isabel are very responsible." said Mrs. Evans "I just want to play mother with you and Izzy. You are both so well behaved. I know that we have nothing to worry about. Now, hurry, I have breakfast ready."

"Ok mom I'll be down in a moment," said Isabel as she rechecked herself out in the mirror. Max just looked at Isabel then his mom and shook his head and smirked. Mrs. Evans just smiled and headed out the door.

"Isabel, you know Liz Parker?" asked Max.

"Yes."

"Well, yesterday at the Crash Down. Michael and I were having lunch. When these two men started to argue." said Max.

"One of them pulled out a gun and shot her."

"What?! is she ok?" asked Isabel. Max could tell that she was really concerned. Even though Isabel could come across as a person who did not care or even as a stuck-up snob. Deep down she really cares for people. She had a natural maternal instinct.

"She is now," said Max soberly. "I healed her."

"You did what!" Isabel said through her teeth. "Did anyone see you? You could have exposed us. Max why?"

Max could tell that Isabel was furious. He knew she cares most of all for him and Michael and in keeping their secret. Isabel maternal instinct now turned on him.

"I don't think anyone else saw me. I told her that she was ok and that the blood was just ketchup. I broke a bottle of ketchup and poured it on her to make it look like her blood." stated Max trying to calm her down and see reason.

"Max how could you be so irresponsible." said Isabel not in the least bit calmed down.

"I don't know Izzy. I just had to react. I could not leave her there to die." said Max.

"Kids breakfast is ready." yelled Mrs. Evans from the kitchen.

"Come on, let's go," said Max as he headed out the door. Isabel following him out of his room.

"We will talk about this later," Isabel said before they enter the kitchen.

"Talk about what?" asked Mrs. Evans.

"For acting like a jerk." said Isabel looking at Max.

"Honey, you know brothers can be jerks sometimes. It is in their DNA," stated Mrs. Evans as she smiled at Max. "I am sure you can talk to him after breakfast. I made your favorite. Waffles, eggs, and bacon." said Mrs. Evans.

Max smiled at his mother. Isabel just gave him the sister look. The look that all sisters give to their brothers when they are mad at them. Max and Isabel sat at the table and put tabasco sauce all over their food. Mrs. Evans still did not understand how her children could put hot sauce on everything.

Max ate his breakfast as his mom made small talk about school and work. He answered most of her questions with a yes or no, sometimes with a nod of understanding, His mind was still on Liz. He looked over at Isabel and could tell that she was still angry with him.

"Mom, thanks for the breakfast," said Max as he put his dishes in the dishwasher.

"Yeah, thanks, mom." said Isabel getting up from the table and handing the plate to Max to put in the dishwasher. Max took it and place it in the dishwasher. He gave her a smile she narrowed her eyes at him.

Max grabbed his backpack and keys to his jeep and headed out the door with Isabel behind him.

"Max what are you going to say to her when she asks you about it?" asked Isabel as she was getting into the jeep.

"I will tell her nothing. I will act as if nothing happened," said Max putting the keys in the ignition and starting the jeep and backing out of the driveway and heading towards school.

"Max what if she goes to the hospital and gets checked out?" asked Isabel turning down the radio.

"They won't find anything." Max said.

"What if the police find out? What if she tells them what you did?" asked Isabel.

"She won't Iz," said Max. "When I healed her, there was this connection. I don't know how to describe it. But it was as if I was looking into her soul and she was looking into mine. I have felt nothing like it before."

Isabel looked at Max. She could tell that the experience deeply moved him. She was still mad at him. He was being careless with their lives. They spoke no more of it. Max drove them to school. Each lost in the respective thoughts.


	5. Chapter 01c A Cat in the Morning

"Good morning." said Meredith King to Chloe has she came down the stairs.

"Good morning mom." said Chloe as she walked into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator and rummaged through it.

"Here you go." Meredith said handing her a smoothie. "Spinach, Kale, and yogurt smoothie with strawberries, bananas, and chocolate."

"Thanks." she said absently.

"Ok, I'll bite." said Meredith. "What is up with you? You have been in a weird mood lately."

"Mom, I am fine." she said. "It is nothing." she said again answering her mom's look. The look that all moms get when they know something is wrong with their child, but the child is not telling her.

"Mmm." Meredith made a sound through her mug of coffee. "Something is up. You know you can talk to me about anything."

"Yes." Chloe said as she watched her mom pick up her attaché case and coffee cup. Grateful that her mom was in a hurry.

"How could she tell her mom about what has been going on? Hi mom just want you to know. I am a freak called a Mai made by some Egyptian god. But that is not the best part. I am also like some great Uniter of the Mai that they have been waiting on for like forever. Plus, there is some mean guys called The Order that want me and the rest of the Mai dead. Plus, I cannot kiss anyone because if I do, they will die. So, yes, I will not be telling you that today." she thought to herself.

"I am just tired from helping Amy and Paul study." she said aloud.

"Well, get some sleep tonight." said Meredith. "I want you home early. Amy and Paul will have to understand that you need rest too."

"Tonight, is Friday. We were going to go to Amy's and hang out and watch some videos." she spoke aloud.

"Will there be any boys there?" Meredith asked as she grabbed her purse.

"Just Paul" she said.

"What about Brian." her mom teased.

"NO!" she said a little too quickly.

Her mom just smiled at her as she went towards the door. "Ok that is fine. Just don't be home too late. Oh, and by the way, I will be home a little later as well. I have a date."

"What?!, with whom? Tell me everything." she yelled through the door as she saw her mom walking down the stairs towards her car. Her mom just raised her hand and waved at her.

Chloe finished her smoothie, picked up her school bag and purse. Grabbed her keys and headed out the door. Walking down the stairs. She felt someone behind her. Turning around with cat like reflexes her claws extended ready to slice whoever was there.

"Oh, it's you." she said. "I could have hurt you."

"Not likely." said Alek in a superior tone.

"I could, but today we need to get to school." said Chloe. "Plus, I do not need a protector."

"Yes, you do." said Alek following behind her.

"No, I don't." she said has she got into the car. Alek grabbed the door handle to get into the passenger side of the car, only to find it locked, he looked at her. She smiled as she started her car and pulled away. She glanced into the rear-view mirror and saw him standing there with his smirk on his face. She turned the music up and glanced into her side-view mirror for Alek. She noticed that he wasn't standing there.

She drove to school singing to the latest song on the radio. As she pulled into the parking lot of the school, she saw Alek leaning against a tree with the same smirk on his face. She rolled her eyes in annoyance with him. She grabbed her backpack and got out.

"Did you enjoy the long way to school?" Alek teased walking beside her. She looked at him gave him a weird look and wrinkled her nose.

"What?"

"You need to take a shower," Chloe said. "You smell."

Alek looked at with a hurt expression in his face. Then gave himself a quick sniff near his armpits. All the while trying to look inconspicuous about it. It made him look adorable to Chloe. She rarely got to him. He always seemed to be too calm about things. But, this time she would have to put this one in the win column for her.

"I don't smell," he said.

She gave him a look that said yes you do. He could be so stubborn sometimes.

"Much."

She smiled at his small confession. She did not know why she started to have some feeling towards Alek. He was good looking and all. But, she rarely goes for the arrogant jock type. Her taste we more towards the artsy or musical type guys. The Brian types. She flushed just thinking about him. She knew she needed to stop. That relationship would never work.

"Why did I have to be Mai?" she muttered to herself.

"What?" Alek asked.

"Nothing, I was just talking to myself," Chloe said. She heard a motorcycle drive up. A blonde girl in a red motorcycle jacket got off. She took off her helmet letting her long blonde curls fall away. She looked around and saw many guys staring at. She did not need her Mai ability to know what they were thinking.

She looked at Alek to see his expression. His expression changed to one of alert. She looked with her Mai ability and could not find any lust coming from him towards the blonde girl. She looked over the blonde girl who was walking up to two dark hair guys, one of which was putting out major love vibes towards her, and another blonde girl. She noticed that she could see an emotion coming off the blonde motorcycle girl. She could not figure out what it was.

"Come on, let's get to class." She heard Alek say as he grabbed her arm and pulled her out of her thoughts.


	6. Chapter 01d Bad Dreams

People dying... flames... pain... wolves... blood... shadows... faces... blurred shadows...

Cassie woke up with a start, breathing heavily, sweat pouring from her body, she reached for her phone. The time was 5:37am. She tried to calm her beating heart down as a heavy foreboding weighed on her. She took a couple of deep breaths to calm herself. Her phone rang and sent her heart racing again.

"I had a terrible dream" said Diana on the other end of the phone. "This dream was so real and weird. It woke me up from a dead sleep. It terrified me."

"Diana, I had a dream also," Cassie said. "It was terrible, shadows, flames, blurred faces, and a strange mark."

There was a pause for a moment Cassie knew Diana was processing everything that Cassie had said. Diana like to think things through.

"Cassie, did your dream have blood and magic in it also?" asked Diana.

"Yes, and a strange symbol." said Cassie looking at her phone. "I got a text from Jake he had a dream as well."

"I have Adam calling me now." said Diana. "I'll call you back."

"Ok." said Cassie as she texted Jake back Melissa called her. "Hi Melissa, ... No, you didn't wake me. Yes, I had a dream as well. So, did Diana, Jake, and Adam... You talked with Faye and she had a dream also... Yes, I think that it means something if we are all having the same dream. I'm with you on that I don't like it either. I will see you at school today. We can all talk about it then. Bye."

Cassie got out of bed and went to the bathroom for a shower "So much for sleeping in before school started." she thought to herself. Finishing in the bathroom, she went to picking out an outfit. Not sure what she wanted to wear. She chose a pair of jeans and white blouse she wanted to blend in today and not stand out. The effects of the dream made her want to feel inconspicuous today.

Coming down the stairs she saw her grandma coming in from work from the hospital. "Good morning" she said.

"Well you are up early. Normally I have time to make us some breakfast before you come down." Jane said putting down her purse on the chair.

"Yeah, I had a... a dream, but it seems more than a dream, but not a dream, like a... a... I am not even sure how to describe it." Cassie said.

"Well come sit down and let us talk about it. Maybe it will help if you talk about what you remember and once you start talking you will remember more." said Jane as she moved to the kitchen.

Jane filled a tea kettle with water and put it on the stove and turned it on. She got two cups from the cabinet and put them on the counter. She got the tea bags and put them in the cups. Cassie watched as her grandmother did all these things. It always amazed her that her grandma always knew how to handle stressful teenage girls.

"So, tell me about this dream you had." said Jane as she gave a cup of tea to Cassie and sat down.

"It is hard to describe. It is like a dream with strong emotions running through it." said Cassie sipping her tea.

"So, let start with the imagery first, what did you see?" asked Jane.

"It is hard to describe. I saw several people and wolves together, but the strange thing is that they were intermixed together. Like I would see a person standing there and a wolf at the same time. I saw people with yellow-golden color eyes, other with pitch black eyes, and even red glowing eyes. "

"Do you remember what emotions you felt when you saw the people-wolves' things or when you saw the eyes?" ask Jane with slight concern in her voice. Cassie could tell she was trying to hide it. But this dream even unsettled her grandmother.

"It was weird. It was a mixture. Sorry, pain, love, fierceness, closeness, and lost all roll up in one," said Cassie trying to make her voice sound like it did not worry her.

"Did the others of the circle experience this also?" asked Jane sipping her tea.

"I am not sure. I think so. We could not get together yet." said Cassie looking at her phone. She received several text messages from members of the Circle. They were all telling her they would get to school early. "Oh, great I will be late, I am meeting everyone before school I totally forgot. Sorry grandma I will talk with you later."

"Cassie, we need to talk about this." said Jane.

"I know grandma we will, but I can't right now. Maybe today when I get home from school." said Cassie as she headed towards the door.

Jane watched her granddaughter leave. She picked up her phone and dialed a number. "We have a problem." she said then she hung up the phone. She grabbed Cassie's tea cup and to the fireplace and open a secret panel in the mantle. She reached into the panel and pulled out a crystal. She looked around to make sure no one was around.

Once she was satisfied that no one was watching, and that Cassie was not coming back. She waved the crystal over the tea cup mumbling under breath the spell. She walked back in the kitchen looked at the tea cup. Her eyes widen at the sight. She mumbled something else under breath and fire erupted from the tea cup. There was purple smoke coming from the flame. She immediately smashed the tea cup into the sink ran to the and got a hammer from the garage and came back in and pulverized the tea cup pieces in the sink.

Satisfied that she destroyed the tea cup. Jane cleaned the sink, said one more spell, and then put the crystal back in the secret place. She looked out the window drew the curtain closed and went upstairs to wash up before going to bed. She hopes that she could get some sleep.


	7. Chapter 01e Breakinner

"Luca get up." said Stephen.

"No." mumbled Luca rolling over in his bed and wrapping the covers over his head.

"Come on, time to get up." said Stephen louder this time. "Mom will be home soon and we have to get to school."

"Do I have to go." said Luca opening his eyes for the first time.

"Yes." said Stephen trying to pull the covers off Luca. Luca held on the covers tightly, but Stephen could still pull the covers and him. Luca finally released covers when he realized that he was half off the bed.

"Ok, Ok, I'm up." said Luca rubbing sleep out of is eyes and sitting up in bed and yawning. "Is mom home yet?"

"Not yet, but she called and said she was on her way." said Stephen. "So, hurry up. I don't want her getting angry with me for you not being ready."

"I'm getting ready." said Luca. "You need not baby-sit me. I can take care of myself."

"No, you can't!" said Stephen as he teleported onto the other side of the bed. "Just because Ultra is not around. The people who were behind them are still around. They will stop and nothing to control or even kill us."

"I know." said Luca nonchalantly.

"Luca this is serious." telepathed Stephen to Luca.

"I know." thought Luca back.

Stephen could feel the emotions coming off Luca in that thought. He could feel the frustration and fear. He knew it was difficult for his brother, he had just recently broken out and if that wasn't hard enough. They had to move out of the city because of the Ultra fiasco. Luca had to start a new school and going to school and being the new kid was bad enough. But having to learn to control your abilities was even harder.

"Hurry mom is on her way." said Stephen trying not to let Luca realize that if he knew his thoughts that would have upset him. "Breakinner is almost ready". Breakinner was what Luca called their breakfast with their mom. Since their mom had to work the late shift at the hospital, it was her dinner and their breakfast. It was the only real time they got to spend it as a family.

"What is for breakinner?" asked Luca standing up and stretching.

"I made chicken and rice with peas." said Stephen as he teleported out of the bedroom.

"I don't like peas!" yelled Luca.

"I know, but mom does." thought Stephen to him. "I also made oatmeal as well."

"With brown sugar and butter?" thought Luca.

"Yes, now hurry. Mom should be here any time now." thought Stephen.

Luca could feel the impatience of the thought from Stephen. Luca thought that must be a big brother trait. Stephen always seemed always frustrated or impatience with him. Luca went to the bathroom and wash his face, look inside of his closet for something to wear. He picked out a pair of jeans and a black T-shirt with white lines on that look like wild bear claws ripped into his shirt. He concentrated and tried to imagine the kitchen. He took a step and teleported. When he materialized instead of the kitchen, he was at the bottom of the stairs. He fell face forward and hit the stairs.

"Luca are you ok?" said is mother as she was coming in from the outside.

"Yeah." said Luca as he picked himself up and rubbing his left forearm.

"How many times have I told you." she said as she was looking at his arm. "Not to teleport in the house. You will get yourself hurt. You need more practice but not here. We have to be safe, we don't want to draw any attention to ourselves."

"I know mom." said Luca as he pulled his arm back. "I was just trying to hurry. Stephen teleported down here, and I wanted to do it too."

'Stephen!" yelled Marla as she walked into the kitchen. "How many times do I have to tell you not to use your powers. You never know who is watching."

"Mom I'm sorry, But Luca would not get out of bed this morning. So, I had to go up there and drag him out." said Stephen while giving Luca a telekinetic slap to the back of his head. "I had food on the stove and didn't want it to burn."

Marla sat down at the table. She looked at her boys. Stephen with a pan of chicken and rice in his hand. Luca was sitting down at the table rubbing the back of his head. "I'm sorry." she said. "I know that things are difficult right now. Plus, I had a terrible time at the hospital we lost two patients last night. I just want you to be careful. I mean very careful. No teleporting, or telekinesis, or telepathy. Please blend in. Luca, I know that you are breaking out. So, things will be hard. Stephen, I expect you to watch out for him. Things are difficult now, but they will get better." The sadness and tiredness of her emotions hit the boys.

"I'm sorry mom." said Luca coming over to his mother and hugging her. "I won't do that again."

"Here is your dinner mom." said Stephen setting down a plate in front of her and kissing her on the top of the head.

She held each one. "This smells good. Thanks for dinner. I did not get a break all night I am famished." she said as she took a bite of her meal. "So, what is going on at school?"

"Nothing much. Too much homework." said Stephen.

"It is boring." said Luca.

"Speaking of school, we have got to hurry, or we will be late." said Stephen as he finished his plate.

"I'm done." said Luca having only eaten some of his food.

They both got up and put the dishes in the sink. Kissing their mom good bye.

"It your turn to do dishes when you get home." said Stephen to Luca as they were heading out of the door.

"No, it is your turn." argued Luca.

Marla sat at the table finishing her dinner she could hear the Stephen's car pulling out of the driveway. She knew her boys were not happy. She hated running and hiding but did not know what else to do. She looked around the empty kitchen. She then levitated her dishes to the sink. She looked around the kitchen one more time. The next instant she was in her bed falling asleep.


	8. Chapter 01f Four in the Morning

"She is totally beautiful" Four thought to himself as he laid next to her. Looking at her face and how the morning sun coming through the window framing it. Her beauty took his breath away. He loved to watch her sleep. She looks so peaceful, unlike when she was wide awake, and the cares and anxiety of the world weighed on her. He wished that she would have stayed home. But that went bad last time.

She opened her eyes and saw his face. "Good morning." she smiled at him.

"Good morning," he whispered as he moved in closer. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in tight. She nestled in closer, embracing the embrace.

They embraced each other for as long as they could when they heard a knock on the door. "You awake," said the voice.

He did not answer the knock, hoping that they would go away and that he could stay like this forever.

KNOCK, KNOCK. Louder this time.

"We are up," said Sarah. "We will be out in a minute."

"OK breakfast will be ready soon," said Mark from behind the door. Mark has really taken on the role as den mother. Ever since the Mogadorians attack the school. They came the next day attacked his and Sarah's family. Mark watched as they killed his dad in broad daylight in the front yard. Kill his mom and the rest of the family when they blew up his house. He caught up with Sarah before she got to her house to let her know about the attack when they arrived at her house, they found that the Mogadorians had attacked and killed her family. They ran and called Four and the gang and told them what happened. Since then Four had not let Sarah out of his sight for the last three months.

"Do we have to get up." said Four with a slight grin.

"Yes," she said. "We need to get to school. The crystal brought us up here to Beacon Hills to find the other Garde."

"You know what happened at the last school I attended." Four said. "I want no one else getting hurt." Four knew he should not have said that. The pain of losing her family was still a fresh memory. The pain played along on her face. He quickly kissed her to let her know he was sorry for bringing that up.

"Well we better get up and see what. "Mother Mark" has for breakfast." he said

"Yes," she said as she buried the pain down deeper and throwing the covers off her. She and Four dressed and headed towards the kitchen.

"OK these should work." said Sam to Mark as he was turning the bacon in the pan.

"What should work?" ask Four.

"I printed out our transcripts from Paradise High." said Sam.

"But if we use the same identities won't the Mogadorians just track us down?" ask Sarah while sitting down at the table, grabbing some waffles that Mark had made and putting them on her plate.

"Well, the way that I figure it," said Sam. "Is that everyone at Paradise High will need to get their transcripts to go to a different school and because no one will go to that school anytime soon. What I figured is that the Mogs will look for the ones that don't get their transcripts."

"Huh." said Mark as he brought a plate of bacon to the table.

"I believe the Mogs know we will probably change our identities," said Sam as he put about seven pieces of bacon on his plate. "I believe they think everyone who is not involved will use their own identities. So, they will not look at them thinking they are human. We can use our own identities we will blend back in."

"So, hiding in plain sight." said Sarah

"Yes except for you and Mark," said Sam. "The Mogs know who you are, so we will change your identities."

"So, OK who are we going to be?" asked Mark

"Well, right now both of you just got released from Eichen House." said Sam devouring the bacon.

"What is Eichen House?" asked Four reaching for the bacon before Sam could eat all of it.

"Well it's kind of like a hospital for sick people." said Sam pouring syrup over his stack of waffles.

"A hospital but won't they have records and pictures of who we are." said Sarah.

"Well, this is not that kind of hospital. This hospital is more of the mental type," said Sam while wiping syrup off his chin.

"So, you are saying that we just got released from the insane asylum." stated Mark.

"Yes,"

"Cool." said Mark eating his pancakes.

"So are we going to act crazy and stuff like that." said Sarah.

"No actually, it's weird this Eichen House as an unusual setup with the institutions here," said Sam. "I did some research they have very little computer access, or their computer system is not setup to connect to the outside world. They have a list of names from people are in there and their diagnosis but no other personal information. It kind of like they don't want you to know where they came from."

"So how does this help?" ask Four finishing his waffles.

"Well, Eichen House has this agreement with the school here," said Sam eyeing the last piece of bacon. "When a student gets released from Eichen House they get a piece of paper from Eichen House saying they were there. The school takes them in without a background check or transcripts."

"That sounds great," said Six. "All when need to do is steal some paper from Eichen House. I see some 'B and E' coming in our future."

"Hold on their criminal," said Sam as everyone else at the table just looked at her like she was out of her mind. "I got a copy of the paper we need from the school. Eichen House might have no computers to the outside world, but the school does. So, I made copies for us."

Sam got up and went over to the printer and pulled the papers off it. Holding them up. "Who is ready to go back to school?"

"Hey, everyone put your dishes in the washer before you go," said Mark as everyone was getting up. "I am not your maid."

Everyone got up from the table and put their dishes away. Grabbed their stuff and headed out the door. Bernie Kasor turning into a lizard and getting into Four's backpack.


	9. Ch01g Make Up You Mind You Silly Hybrid

She changed her outfit for the fourth time this morning. She could not decide. She was excited and a little scared. She was happy. She had tired of always running and looking over her shoulder for Lycans or Vampires. Since they have seen no Lycans or Vampires in over a year. Her dad, had finally convinced her mom it was time to settle down. Her uncle David agreed, and he even joined them when they came and settled down here in Beacon Hills. It was easier to settle down now since her mom could walk in the sun.

"Let's go over this one more time," said Selene as she came into the room.

"Mom, we went over this already," said Eve. "My name is Eve Corvin. I moved here from London. My dad is Michael Corvin he is a doctor and got a job at the hospital. My mom, Selene Corvin, was a personal trainer but now stays at home. She and my uncle David are planning on opening a gym here in Beacon Hills just like they had in London. They are now looking at places around Beacon Hills for a gym."

"That is not all," Selene stated very icy. 'Teenagers' she thought to herself. "You have to make sure that you don't use yours heighten abilities, you can hurt the humans."

"I know mom. I will not vamp out on them," said Eve as she put another shirt in front of herself while looking in the mirror.

"Remember don not out run them or walk too fast," Selene said.

'Mom, I think that I have this." Eve said as she reached for another shirt in her closet.

"Eve" Her father said as he walked into the room.

"Good morning dad." She said running to him and giving him a hug.

He gave her a big hug. His hugs were always the best. It made her feel so alive and in a way human. Her dad was patient and kind. Her mom was hard, and she could be cold and very businesslike. But, she was thawing out some. Her dad was teaching her mom to be more human, well somewhat human, when she was giving instruction to Eve. She knew her mother loved her.

She did not know much about her mom's earlier life. She knew that she was a fierce warrior and that at one point something dangerous was hunting her. She knew that her mom had experienced a lot of hurt in her life. She shared her mom's blood and could access it if she wanted too. She felt that would invade her mom's personal privacy, and she did not want to do that. She wanted her mom to tell her in her own time.

"Your mother is correct. You must be very careful around them," told her father as he released her. "If you hurt someone..."

"You will fix them at the hospital," she said looking in the mirror again. Trying to hide her nervousness from her dad. He could always read her emotions.

"Yeah, but we would have to pull you out of school, and you would have to be home school by uncle David," he said.

She spun from the mirror, her face a shade lighter. "I will be extra careful. I will let them hurt me if I have too."

"No, don't let them hurt you." Selene barked. "They would see you heal and that would raise suspicions."

"Honey, you will be ok," said Michael reassuring her. "You have been doing well when interacting with humans. Remember school is like the mall in a way. Instead of stores people go to classes where a teacher gives lectures on a subjects and quizzes students."

"I know dad," she said. "Remember I have yours and mom's blood in my system. I can access them to keep me caught up on the assignments."

"Knowing something from the blood line is one thing. It will help you on test and quizzes," he said. "But you can't beat experience."

"That is why I don't think she is ready for this." said Selene. Eve looked at her dad with pleading in her eyes. Please don't side with her.

She could tell that her dad was thinking about taking her mom's side. She wanted to be in school and make friends. She only had the laboratory and the Lycans as experience. She watched TV and her uncle David, who really wasn't her uncle. Told her all about the human world. She wanted to be a part of it. Not hide from it. She was so relieved when her dad smiled at her, Relief flooding through her.

"Selene, we have talked about this. We want to settle down and be a real family. This is the beginning. Eve goes to school. you and David start your business." He said as he moved closer to Selene now and picked her up to hug her. "And I go to work and come home and watch the game. You bring me my beer and rub my feet."

"I am not rubbing your feet." Selene said as she hit is arm playfully. "You don't even drink beer."

"Eve hurry and get dress. You will leave soon." said Michael as he carried Selene out the door.

She watched as the door closed behind her father. She could hear her father still talking about a foot rub and beer. She finally settled on an outfit, dressed. Checked herself in the mirror one more time and went out the door with a smile on her face.

She ran down stairs and into the kitchen. She saw David sipping on a blood bag watching the small TV he had install under the top counters. He was watching the news. He turned and looked at her.

"Well you look beautiful today," said David smiling at her.

"Thanks," she said trying to hide the redness of her face. "Do you really think I look ok?"

"Yes," David said. "But, remember it is not what you wear that makes you beautiful. It is how you carry yourself. But, most of all it is how you treat people."

She nodded her head in understanding. David was always bringing her back to reality. She grabbed a donut out of the box that was on the counter. She was the only one in the family that could eat human food.

"So, are you ready?" asked David as he pulled his car's key out of his pocket.

"Yes," she said following him out the door.


	10. Ch01h One tired Puppy

"Anything?" thought spoke Jake to Cassie, and he flew in bat form.

"I am not sure," thought spoke Cassie she transformed from an opossum to herself. Jake morph into himself while in flight almost falling over when his feet hit the ground.

"I forgot to use sonar," he said sheepishly, trying to cover his awkward landing.

Cassie morph into herself. She yawned. She was tired but here lately things have gotten strange with the Yeerks. They have not heard anything from them. She knew that they were around. She was certain there was another pool that they have set up for Kandrona Rays. But so far, they have been unable to find it.

"So, anything to report?" asked Jake trying to stop a yawn.

"No, I concentrated on East side tonight." said Cassie. "I have found no Yeerk activity. But, the woods seem a little different tonight." She did not want to tell him that she thought that there was something in the woods that scared her. She found no trace of anything. But, yet she was sure there was something there and it was creeping her out.

"Well. I got it from here you need to get some sleep," said Jake. "You look like you could use it"

"I am tired," she said thankful that Jake took her worried as tiredness.

She morphed into a deer since it was dark outside and ran off towards her house. Once she got into town, she morphed into an owl and flew home silently.

Jake watched her go. This war was taking a toll on all. He wondered how long they would have to keep fighting. He knew the Yeerks had enslaved many worlds. But, Jake would not allow them to enslave his world.

Jake concentrated on the West and South side of the woods, He morphed into a bat, mole, fox, and even an ant, to get the feel of the woods. There was something off in the woods tonight. All his animal morphed scream at him that something was off. But, there was not any one thing he could put his finger on.

He made his way back to the small clearing they all met at. Tobias was already there. He would take over the next shift. Jake released is morph. It stood next to Tobias.

"Wow, you look tired, said Tobias upon seeing Jake.

"I think we all are," said Jake giving a small smile to Tobias. Jake had pity for Tobias. His parents had died, and he lived with his uncle and aunt, who did not care about him at all. They were drunks and abused him. Sometimes they would throw him out of the house. Jake remembered, before the war, that Tobias was a loner. Bullied at school, usually for wearing the same clothes for three days in a row. Jake did not know at the time his uncle or aunt threw him out and he only went to school to eat.

Now, Tobias is a fierce warrior. He got stuck as a hawk when he saved Rachel from the Yeerks. Morphing is wonderful, but it has draw backs. The biggest is they can only to stay in morph form for up to two hours if they stay any longer than that, they are permanently stuck in that morph. Tobias was a Nothlit as Ax explained it to him it is when someone who gets trapped in a morph longer than two hours their morph they cannot morph back and are stuck in that morph. Luckily for Tobias, the Ellimist could give the power of morphing back to Tobias, but he has to turn back into a hawk every two hour. He can take his original human form. But, now his base form is that of a hawk. Jake suspected that Tobias went into hawk form to escape his human troubles and liked it better as a hawk.

"No, you really you look bad," said Tobias.

"Thanks," said Jake trying to hold back a yawn. "I covered the South and West. I saw no signs of the Yeerks.

"They have been quiet lately," said Tobias.

Yeah, and that had got me worried," said Jake with a yawn.

"You have school in two hours. You need to head home," said Tobias with concern in his voice.

"I know I will," said Jake this time giving into a yawn. "I wish that I knew what they were planning. They have been quiet for three months."

"Maybe, they have went on to greener pastures," said Tobias smiling.

"I wish," said Jake smiling. "There is something in the woods. I am not sure what it is. But every morph that I went into could tell that there is something not right in the woods. I am not sure how to explain it. But, there is a predator in the woods is the best way to describe it."

"Did you see anything?" asked Tobias

"No, and neither did Rachel," said Jake. When he said. Rachel, he saw Tobias eyes light up. He knew Tobias had a crush on his cousin. He would not say anything about that. Let them sort it out was his motto towards them. He suspected that Rachel like him as well.

"His she Ok?" asked Tobias.

"Yes," said Jake yawning again.

"Why don't I fly with you home," said Tobias.

"Ok," said Jake too tired to argue.

A great horned owl flew slightly through the night. To a casual observer the owl looked majestic and strong flying silently through the night air. But to an astute observer they could tell that the owl was flying fast and hard towards a target. That target just happen to be a bedroom window. The owl flew silently in. When the owl hit the floor where it landed stood a boy in its place.

"That is cutting it too close Jake." thought Tobias to Jake.

"I know Tobias." thought Jake as he fell into his bed almost falling asleep.

A falcon flew where the owl once flew. To anyone who was watching it would have been unusual for a falcon to be flying now in the morning especially hours before the sun broke the horizon. As the hawk flew it shifted into a bat and kept flying.

"What is that noise." thought Jake trying to wake up and reach for the alarm clock that made that infernal noise. He failed at the last part knocking the alarm clock off his night stand and on to the floor. Now the infernal noise was now underneath him and the only way of turning it off was to get up and find it. That took care of the first part now he was awake, well at least partially awake.

"Jake" thought Tobias to Jake. "I completed my patrol there was no signs of Yeerks anywhere."

"Really," thought Jake back. "It has been over three months since we destroyed the Kandrona Rays surely they built another one."

"If they did." thought Tobias to Jake. "They are keeping it well hidden."

"Rachel and Cassie have been following Tom for a while now." thought Jake to Tobias as he dressed for school. "They have even joined the Sharing but so far they could not turn up anything either."

"It is strange for them to be this quiet for this long." thought Tobias. "Well I will get breakfast. This patrolling thing is hard on this hawk-boy."

"Yes, tell me about." thought Jake as he yawned aloud. "I will talk to you at school."

"OK" thought Tobias as he flew out of thought speak range.

Jake finished getting dressed and hurried down to the kitchen. He poured himself some cereal and a big cup of coffee. "I will need this today" he said aloud.

"Bad night last night?" asked his brother Tom.

"Yeah up playing on my phone." lied Jake. "This new game I downloaded is really addictive. You should get it too."

"No thanks I am ok." said Tom in a very level voice. For three months now, Tom has been acting weird. Jake knew that he was a controller. But this was like different. It was like Tom didn't get emotional any more. He didn't laugh or harass Jake anymore, he came in and did his work, went to the sharing, and came home and pretty much nothing else. Jake knew it was the Yeerk inside him controlling him. But this was so different, even for the Yeerk.

"Well it is probably better you didn't I would beat you so badly that you would have to give up your phone permanently due to the humiliation you would receive." said Jake.

"Yeah, you are probably right." said Tom in the same deadpan voice as he headed out the door.

Jake finished his cereal and coffee. Filled up his coffee cup again and grabbed his backpack and headed out the door to school.


	11. Ch01i Someone Woke Up Grumpy

"John" Cameron said as she stood outside the bedroom door. "Are you ready?"

"Yes," John Connor answered as he came out of his bedroom and looked at her.

"Good," said Cameron as she looked at him with her head cocked slightly in her analyzing pose. She then turned around and walked away. She heard the door slam behind her.

John looked at himself one more time in the mirror, ran his fingers through his hair, and picked up his backpack off the end of his bed. 'Another school, time to pretend to be someone else.' he thought to himself. 'Wonder if there would be any cute girls. Would love to have a girlfriend.' But he knew it would not be a reality this time. John hated his life. He was not some super leader for the future. He never asked for it. He wanted to be a normal kid. His mom was always training him and preparing him. Nothing was off limits from her constant training. Even a simple dinner turned in to a training session. Which foods to eat. Which to stay away from. How to take a part this gun or reassemble this gun. How to rewire technology. Constantly a training session.

All he wanted was a mom to tell him about girls. How to talk to them. How to make them laugh. How to tell him if they liked him or not. No, stuff like that was not for the great John Connor, savior of humanity. No, he had to lead. Show no emotion. He did not have room for romance. He felt so hollow inside. It was like he was trying to give up his humanity to save it.

He took one more look at himself in the mirror. He made sure he was inconspicuous as possible he needed to blend in. He ran his fingers through his hair one last time before heading out the door.

"Morning," John said as he walked into the kitchen. His mom was at the stove cooking pancakes. She always made pancakes when they were starting over. Reece was at the table cleaning his gun. Cameron was just standing near the window looking out it. Constantly on guard.

"Morning," his mom said as she put a stack of pancakes on the table and sat down. Reece moved his gun parts to the side and took two pancakes off the stack and put them on his plate.

"What is your name," his mother barked at him. She never let up on him. The constant drill instructor.

"John Smith," he stated filling his cup with coffee.

"Where are you from John," barked his mother again.

"I am from Paradise Falls, Ohio," stated John pouring maple syrup over his pancakes. He really was passed the petty stuff of why he was here. Who he was etc...? But his mom always went over the "basics".

"What brought you here to Beacon Hills, John," stated Reece this time. Reece normally did not go over the basics with him. This sudden interest from Reece threw him for a loop. He suspected that Reece knew he was answering the questions giving no thought to them.

"Well, after the terrorist attack at my old school my mom got scared and moved here," stated John in a bored voice he would not give Reece the satisfaction of knowing this was boring him.

"Why would she come here," asked Cameron this time.

"Yes, why would she come here?" asked Sarah while giving Cameron the 'I don't trust you look.'

"Because she is hiding me from killer robots that are trying to kill me. Because I am the great John Connor the savior of mankind," stated John shoveling a fork full of pancakes in his mouth.

"This is not what we discussed," stated Cameron.

"John this is no joke. You need to keep your guard up, always," stated Sarah. "One little slip up John and this will all be over. You will be dead; the world will be dead. I will be dead."

"Mom, I know the drill. We moved here from Paradise Falls, Ohio. My uncle and cousin joined us. My father died in Afghanistan while serving in the Marines," said John. "My mom worked at a flower shop in Ohio. She is now looking for a job. My uncle works in IT. We moved here to get away from some bad memories. Plus, my mom was freaked out by the accident at the school. I wasn't there that day, so I don't know what happened. My uncle can work from anywhere, so we came here. Good enough?"

"John what is wrong with you?" yelled his mom getting up.

"Nothing!" yelled John back while getting up and dropping is plate into the sink and grabbing his back pack and heading out the door." Cameron looked at Sarah then to Derek and then followed John out the door.

"Teenagers," said Derek and went back to eating his pancakes.

"This is not funny," said Sarah.

"You forget that John is a teenager," said Reece. "You had a life changing experience. He knows what is going on. But he is still a teenager."

Sarah looked at Reece. "I need to train him."

"Yes, you do," Reece said. "But, he is still a teenage boy. He is not interested in saving mankind. Right now, he is more interested in the fairer sex and trying to figure out how to approach girls."

"He does not have time for that," said Sarah.

"Do you remember when you were a teenager?" asked Reece.

Sarah thought for a moment. She tried to remember what it is like to be a teenager. All those hormones running through you. How things were confusing and trying to figure out who you were.

"What did you do in the future?" asked Sarah.

"We would have gotten the young man or woman laid," said Reece. "This way we could continue the war. Sex was something to continue humanity. There was little emotion in it. But, it does not have to be. John wants to be with someone he cares about."

"So, you think his behavior is all to do with his hormones?" asked Sarah.

"Would you like me to show you his internet history?" asked Reece.

"He doesn't have time for romance," said Sarah sadly.

"Yeah, but right now that is the only thing on his mind," said Reece as he put his guns back together.


	12. Ch01j Tragers in the Morning

TV reporter on screen. "Now in local news. Yesterday two men were arguing at the Crash Down cafe when things got out of control. One man pulled a gun out and fired it inside the cafe. There are conflicting reports with witnesses. Some say someone shot a waitress, and a young man healed her. Other witnesses say the bullet hit a ketchup bottle and spilled on the waitress. Here is our field reporter now..."

"So, are you nervous?" asked Stephen Trager to his wife wrapping his arms around her. She was in the bathroom getting ready for her day.

"Honestly no, I am not nervous, I am terrified," said Nicole putting her other earring in her ear. "Did we do the right thing?"

"Honey, we have been through this already," said Stephen kissing her on the back of her neck. "We needed a fresh start, especially with the kids. Since everything that happened with Zzyzx, Kyle, and Jessi. The kids agreed to this though, I am still not sure why we needed to bring Declan or Amanda with us."

"I know that we are doing the right thing with the kids," she said turning to face him. "You know Declan's dad threw him out. How could a father do that to his son, is beyond me? Plus, he and Kyle have become close. It is just tragic that Amanda's mom died in that car crash. She had no one. She needed someone and with the foster care system overloaded. I could not put her through that stress."

"I know Amanda is great, but Declan... Really?" said Stephen breaking their embrace. "Didn't he get in trouble with the law? I am not sure that he is such a good influence on Kyle or Josh."

"He is a good kid. He took a fall for helping out his friends that is an excellent quality," she admonished to Stephen. "I know, he helped Kyle with his memory which is important for him. He is almost like an anchor for Kyle."

"So, are you worried about your new job?" he asked changing the subject. He did not want to go into why he did not trust Declan all the way. He knew Declan had dated his daughter. He suspected that they had sex, He thought his daughter was old enough to make those kinds of decisions. He did not want it to happen under his roof. He knew Declan and Lori were friends, it worried him that if they ever wanted to rekindle their relationship. It would not turn out well. He pushed those thoughts from his mind. it was no use worrying about what ifs. So far Lori had put Declan in the friend zone, and he knew from his own experience when he was younger a boy almost never got out of that zone.

"He looked down at his wife. She looked up at him and smiled. It was a forced smile that said yes, I am. But, he could see right through her. "Honey you are going to be great at the school. You will be fantastic. You are going to be better than fantastic." he said as he hugged her again.

"Thanks... I love you." She said as she welcomed his touch. She felt all warm and secure in his embrace.

"Well, let's go downstairs and get the kids ready for their first day at a new school." he said while breaking the embrace and kissing her.

"Why did we come here again," said Josh as he closed the refrigerator door. "I mean couldn't we have gone to Hawaii, I mean, who has ever heard of Beacon Hills."

Kyle looked at him as he poured cereal into a bowl then added the milk that he got from the refrigerator. Kyle was much amused by reading Josh. He could tell that he was nervous. Kyle surmised it was from him going to a new school and probably not knowing anyone. Kyle was sympathetic for him.

"Josh, you might like Beacon Hills." said Kyle with a grin.

"Have you read anything about this place? It is strange, I'll tell you," stated Josh as he took another spoonful of cereal. "I mean murders that have gone unsolved. Fire burning houses and boats down. I mean there is an active arsonist around here somewhere. Don't even get me started on all the animal attacks and unsolved murders."

"Fire happens in every town. It is sad but true," stated Kyle.

"Yeah, that is true. But, from what I read there is a lot of strange things that happen in this town. Wild animal attacks, corpses without blood." said Josh taking another big spoonful of his cereal.

"What corpses without blood?" asked Lori as she and Jessi came into the kitchen. "Have you been playing your video games again?"

"No!" stated Josh. "It's true."

"What is true?" asked Nicole coming into the kitchen.

"Josh thinks there are corpses walking around without blood." said Jessi.

"I didn't say that." said Josh. "I said that there were some very strange things happening in this town. I read some guy's internet site on this place. It is bizarre central around here."

"Well, I was going to make breakfast, but, I see some of us have already eaten." said Nicole as she walked in and picked up the empty box of cereal." Kyle just smiled at her as he took another bite of his cereal. Josh was still arguing with Jessi over some video game.

"Well ladies, since the guys ate without us, how about we pick up some Starbucks on the way." said Nicole as she grabbed her keys and headed out the door with the girls following right behind.

"A white chocolate mocha with caramel drizzle sounds fantastic," stated Amanda as she followed behind the others.

"Hey, we want some too." yelled Josh as he and Kyle ran after them leaving their cereal bowls on the table.

Declan picked up the cereal bowls and put them in the sink. He did not want there to be a mess when they got home. Declan was trying to help more around the house. His father always told him he never helped around the house and that was why his mother left them. He knew it wasn't true. The sting of his father's words still haunts him. He would make sure he would be nothing like his father thought him to be. He also wanted to show the Trager's how thankful he was for allowing him to live with them. He rushed out the door after making sure he wiped the table down.

They all pile into the SUV. Kyle could tell that everyone was nervous except for Jessi. She seemed to be filled with curiosity at starting in a new school. Kyle just hoped that she would not call too much attention to herself. He realized that she was only trying to make friends. Doing things that normal people could not do could cause people not to trust you. He hoped that she learned from last time and instead just be herself and not a freak


	13. Ch01k An exhaust Fan for Life

Turning off the shower and stepping out of the tub. Elena wiped the moisture off the mirror. She looked at herself in the now streaked mirror. The reflection that was looking back at her seemed to get harder to make out as the steam tried to cover up the clear spot she made. Her life lately seemed like that mirror. The more she thought she saw things clearly, the cloudier they became. She had still not come to terms with her parents' death. She understood in her head that life had to go on. But, her heart still ached from the loss. She did not even know how to pick up the pieces let alone put her heart back together. She turned on the exhaust fan and waited as the fog on the mirror began to fade. Wishing she could have an exhaust fan in her life that would remove all the fog that covered her heart.

"I need and exhaust fan for my life." she said aloud. She finished getting ready for school. She took one more look at herself in the mirror before leaving the bathroom. She smiled to make sure she had it right for she knew she would have to wear this smile was in the reflection in the mirror for the rest of the day.

Elena sat on the end of her bed._ 'I can do this_.' she said to herself. She quickly got up and looked through her closet for something to wear. She chose a red shirt, a pair of jeans, and a light jacket. Something that was comfortable yet not mourning clothes. She looked in the mirror one more time before leaving her room. She smiled just to make sure it looked right.

"Good morning." Elena said to Jenna as she came into the kitchen heading straight for the coffee. She poured herself a cup.

"Good morning," said Jenna as she put her coffee cup down on the counter. "Have you seen Jeremy this morning?"

"No," said Elena.

"Elena am I being a bad caregiver?" asked Jenna.

"No," said Elena hoping that her voice sounded like she wanted it too. "I know that it has not been easy taking over for your mom and dad. But I have no complaints."

"Thanks," said Jenna. "I feel overwhelmed sometimes. I am not sure if I am making the right decisions with you kids."

Just then Jeremy came into the kitchen. He went right for the coffeepot. Poured himself a cup and took a large swallow out of it. Then poured himself some more filling his cup to the brim before walking out of the kitchen without acknowledging either one.

Elena looked at Jenna then laughed, "Well, I think I can see your problem. You are completely overwhelmed I see." It felt good to laugh. Jenna could always make her mood light.

"I know right," said Jenna picking up the coffeepot and pouring the scant remains into her cup. Put the cup up to her mouth and was about to drink it. Looked at the coffee in the cup and decided she did not need the coffee anyway and dumped it down the drain.

"Just give him some time," said Elena more seriously. "He has been through a lot. I will talk to him."

"No, that is ok" said Jenna, "Let us give him some time."

"Ok but if you need help. I can talk to him," said Elena putting her coffee cup in the sink.

"So how is school?" said Jenna changing the subject. "Any cute boys going to be there?"

"School is good," said Elena. "And I am not looking for a boy right now. I have too much going on with everything that has happened lately."

"Elena, you need to get on with your life," said Jenna. "You can't keep on living this way. I believe it is time for you to have some fun. Get out of this house and live a little."

"Thanks Aunt Jenna," said Elena trying to change the subject. "Don't you have a presentation to give or something?"

"Oh, crap yes I do," said Jenna looking at her watch. "I am a terrible person, your first day of school and I am so unprepared."

"We will be fine," said Elena. "Bonnie is on her way to pick us up. So, don't worry. We will be ok."

"If you need anything just call," said Jenna as she raced out the door.

Elena went over to the sink and put the cups in the dishwasher. Wiped off the counter where Jeremy spilt his coffee and removed the coffee ground from the coffee machine and threw them in the garbage. Jeremy walked in and went straight to the refrigerator and opened the OJ and drank it right from the carton.

"Jeremy stop that," said Elena. "Other people want to have some as well."

Jeremy just looked at her and continued to drink from the carton. When he finished, he threw the empty carton in the trash. Elena just looked at him in disgust.

"Bonnie is coming by to pick me up for school. Do you want a ride also?" asked Elena.

"No, I think that I would rather walk," he said.

"Jer, if you..." said Elena with as much concern in her voice. She knew Jeremy was trying to cope with everything just as she was. She felt that her and her brother have grown apart more instead of growing closer during their time of grief. She was dealing with her own emotions which were difficult enough. She wanted to be there for Jeremy but did not know how to do it.

"Stop Elena. I am ok, you need not mother me," said Jeremy as he headed out the door.

Elena stood there for a moment. Mad and hurt at the same time. She knew her brother was hurting. But, she sensed that he was just making bad choices in his life.

She heard a horn beep and knew Bonnie was here. She grabbed her stuff and headed towards the front door. She saw Bonnie in her car. She looked like she was enjoying the song on the radio, her mouth was open, and her eyes were closed as she sang with the melody. Elena got in and smiled as Bonnie turned down the radio.

"Hi," said Bonnie. "Is Jeremy coming?"

"Hi and no," said Elena. "He wanted to walk."

"Well his lost," said Bonnie. She put the car in drive and drove towards the school.

"So, Grams is telling me I'm psychic. Our ancestors were from Salem, witches and all that, I know, crazy, but she's going on and on about it, and I'm like, put this woman in a home already!" said Bonnie talking really fast like she does when she is excited about something. Elena was glad that Bonnie gave her room to grieve but pulled her out of it when she moped too much. "But then I thought, I predicted Obama, and I predicted Heath Ledger, and I still think Florida will break off and turn into little resort islands...Elena! Back in the car."

Elena turned her head and face Bonnie. "I did it again, didn't I? I…I'm sorry, Bonnie. You were telling me." Elena did her best to try and listen to what Bonnie was saying again.

"I think that I am psychic now," said Bonnie giving a small smile to Elena.

"Right," said Elena deciding to play along with her friend. Elena did not believe her friend was psychic. She believed people could have psychic abilities. She was not sure if Bonnie had them. "Okay, then predict something about me."

A smile spread across Bonnie's face "I see…" before Bonnie could finished her sentence a crow flew into the windshield of the car. Bonnie slammed on the brake and the car swerved on the road.

"What was that?!" Bonnie looked over at Elena concerned in her eyes. "Elena are you okay?"

"It's okay." Said Elena doing her best to keep the nervousness out of her voice. "I'm fine."

"It was a bird or something," said Bonnie trying to comfort her friend with her words. "It came out of nowhere."

"Really," said Elena answering Bonnie's looked that said she did not believe she was ok. "I can't be freaked out by cars for the rest of life."

Bonnie looked at her one more and smiled. "I predict this year is going to be kick ass." Bonnie said as she put the car in drive and headed towards the school. "And, I predict all the sad and dark times are over and you will be beyond happy."


	14. Ch01l Warlocks in the Morning

"Mother, I need you to understand this" Caleb said. "We have to do this."

"All I understand is that I lost your father. Now I will lose you too." said his mother.

"You will not lose me," Caleb said walking towards his mother. "We talked about this. We have to find him we are not safe until we do."

"Why can't you let it go," she said with a higher octave in her voice. "Why do you have to pursue him? Are you trying to get yourself killed? Just because you have ascended, and you have more power. But I know this power is seductive. You are just ready for another round with him. Just so you can prove who is stronger."

Caleb moved next to his mom and took the drink out of her hand, ran his hand down her worried face. "Mom, we have gone over this before. All of us, even Tyler, has had the same dream. It is like we are being pulled, we have to go. There is a foreboding drawing us to go."

"All the more reason not to go." said his mother.

"Mother I am sorry, but we need to do this." said Caleb breaking free from her and walking towards the door.

"How did she take it?" asked Sarah as Caleb enter the room.

"Not well," Caleb said as he put some shirts in the suitcase. "The others should be here soon."

"I am all packed," she said walking over to him.

"Sarah, you don't have to go," said Caleb zipping up his suitcase and turning towards her. "This could be dangerous. Chase might hurt you again. I am not sure if you should go. I think that you should stay here."

"We have been through this before," she said kissing him. "There is no place that would be safe from him, except with you. You are my protector. Plus, I need to protect you from those Beacon High School girls."

He kissed her. Holding her tight he thought to himself. "I am never going to let you go." Looking into her eyes. "Yeah, I hear those Beacon High School girls are very aggressive and persuasive."

'Oh yeah." she said pushing him onto the bed. "How persuasive are these girls going to be."

"Oh, very persuasive," he stated as she started to kiss his neck and chest. He grabbed her and flipped her over and started to kiss her also. She grabbed the back of his head and pulled him into a long passionate kiss.

"Whoa, cover your eyes baby boy." said Reid trying to cover Tyler's eyes as they walk in the door.

Jumping off Sarah. "You were to call me when you came up the drive," said Caleb trying to straighten himself up.

"We did." said Tyler

"Several times," said Reid sarcastically. "But we can go back and wait in the car and give you guys a couple of minutes."

"No, we are ready." said Sarah red faced.

"It is no problem at all," said Reid as he winked at Sarah. "Caleb is usually done in a couple of minutes."

"Still twice as long as you I hear." said Sarah seductively to Reid.

"Ha!" laughed Tyler as he grabbed a suitcase and started to walk out the door.

"What are you laughing at. I don't think that you ever had a girl before," said Reid following after Tyler.

Caleb looked at Sarah. "I guess we will have to pick this up later."

"I always wanted to be in the mile-high club." she said as she walked out the room swaying her hips and looking over her shoulder with her blonde hair going down the side of her face.

Caleb's eyes widen, and a big smile broke out on his face. He grabbed his suitcase and hurried out the door after her.

At the driveway, Pogue had the back open of the Suburban that they were taking to the airport. "Hey," he said to Sarah.

"Hi," she said back to him before getting into the car. Tyler and Reid were still arguing over their conquest of women. "Are they going to be like this the entire time?"

"They can go on like this for days." said Pogue helping Caleb put the last of the luggage in the vehicle.

"Great." she said as she dug out earphones to put in her ears.

"You have everything?" Pogue asked getting into the driver's seat.

"Yeah," said Caleb at shotgun. "Gorman has everything prepared for us. We start school in a couple of days after we get settled in."

"Do you think that he is there?" asked Pogue

"I don't know, but something is there, and we all feel drawn there for some reason. I think that we need to go there at least to check it out." said Caleb as the Suburban headed out of the driveway and towards the airport. "I think that we should be very careful once we get there."

"Do you feel anything different?" asked Caleb to Pogue changing the subject. He did not want to get everyone riled up. He wanted to protect Sarah as much as he could.

Pogue looked at him. He could tell that Caleb was asking him something that he did not want the others to hear. Especially, Reid and Tyler. Pogue noticed Caleb kept looking at them in the rearview mirror. He could tell that he waited until they both had their ear buds in before he spoke to him.

"What do you mean?" replied Pogue looking out his window and watching the trees go by.

"With the magic," said Caleb. "It feels different, it is the same, but something is off. If you know what I mean."

"Maybe, it is because you have ascended," said Pogue. "It feels the same to me."

"It could be," said Caleb. "I heard my father speak on ascending and the dangers. He has never said that it would feel different, other than it will be a hundred times more addictive."

"Is it?" asked Pogue looking at him. The power was extremely addictive now. It could not imagine it being any more addictive.

"Yes, it is, I have all this power running through me. It feels like fire running through my veins," said Caleb. "I only get relief when I use it and when I do I want to do it again and again. But, dear oh dad told me about this. Just the same as your dad told you. I just did not believe them."

"So that bad," said Pogue. "So, what's your number?"

"25," said Caleb smiling at him. It was a fake smile. A smile that conveyed I am in trouble but for now I am ok.

"Whoa," said Pogue he did not pressure Caleb any further. He looked out his window again. Is mind wandering back to when he, Caleb, Reid, and Tyler were younger and just came into their powers. Their fathers telling them all about it. He remembered how their moms worried. When they found out that the magic drained their life force. Every time they would use some of the power it would steal from the lifespan. Using the magic would age you. He remembered his dad dying at 37. He looked like he was 90, It was a joke they made up when they were kids. Who could live the longest since he could remember Caleb always said 65. The reality of being supernatural weighed heavy on him. When Caleb told him his new number of 25. Was Caleb only going to live seven more years…


	15. Ch01m Runaways in the Morning

Alex reached over and turned off his alarm clock. It was way too early for it to go off. He shook his head and pushed the covers from him. He sat on the side of his bed. His mind now fully awake was thinking about everything that happened last night. The girl kept coming forefront in his mind. He could not believe it involved his parents in anything like killing someone.

'_No, that can't be it," _he said to himself. His parents could not kill someone. No, he refused to believe it. There had to be an explanation. Things were just so weird since Amy died. Everything fell apart since her death. He wanted so badly for everything to go back to the way it was, Amy kept everyone together. She was the glue that held them. Without her they were totally without direction and sometimes meaning.

He grabbed his phone off the nightstand. He had no new messages or missed calls. He needed help to figure this out. He pulled up his contact list. The first name he went to was Nico. He felt a sadness and a longing. He should have gone to Amy's funeral. He did not, and that decision has come back to haunt him.

Amy died. They said she overdosed. Alex knew it was a lie. Amy did not do any drugs. She was not depressed. She played video games with him. They normally played Battlefield. Alex knew something else was going on. He suspected that who ever hacked her computer had something to do with her death. He stayed up all night before her funeral trying to find any evidence that someone killed her. He did not, but he slept through her funeral.

Now how could he face Nico. The girl he had a crush on since he was eleven years old. How could he explain that he thought someone killed your sister? Did he want to open old wounds like that? Now things have changed. There was something going with their parents and this so call Pride meeting. He needed to find out what it was. His gut was telling him it had something to do with Amy's death.

He added people in to the group text. Hoping that the others would respond. Was last night just a fluke for them. Did they all really come together and fool their parents? He could not believe his parents were fooled by them playing twister. He had to laugh a little to himself. It brought back good memories of when they were young. He typed on his phone. He hoped that the others would figure it out what he meant.

**Alex: **We need to all meet a talk about our twister game that we had last night.

**Gert: **I can't seem to get the color red out of my mind for some reason.

Leave it to Gert to figure out that Alex was trying to use code to hide anything from his parents. Especially, Nico's mom she was the head of the company that produced most of the new phones' software services.

**Chase: **? I more worried about the girl.

**Molly: **U alwayz haz a gurl on ur brain.

'_Nice save Molly,' _Alex thought to himself. Chase you can be a typical jock at times. Alex hoped that he would catch on soon.

**Karolina: **It is funny that red reminded me of a fuzzy robe I had at this hotel that I went to with the church. They had the best robes.

**Chase: **A robe really with what happened last night.

**Karolina: **Yes, it's funny that RED robe was so comfy. It is funny I only use it once. I took it off, then poof it was gone. Like it vanished in a bright light.

Alex could not believe Chase could be this dense. Did he not realize that they were talking about? They were talking about the girl that was possibly killed last night by their parents. If they texted that. Nico's mom would find out, that they know about what happen at their so call Pride meeting.

**Alex: **Nico when is your mom coming out with the new software updates. My PHONE seems to be lagging.

**Nico: **I am not sure they have to update their privacy setting or something like that.

**Chase: **arrgghh I am dumb.

**Gert: **Typical jock. But we won't hold against you.

**Nico: **I am going to go to the beach this morning to see the waves before school. Meet me there so we can catch up on things. Be there in 30 min.

**Alex: **Shower then I am there

**Karolina: **I think I can make it, have my morning meditations.

**Gert: **We are on our way after we finish getting ready.

**Chase: **C ya there

Alex put his phone on his nightstand. Got up and went to the bathroom. Turned on the water as hot as he could. He stood there for a moment as the steam built a good mist around him. The mist obscured his reflection in the mirror. He sometimes wished that he had that ability to do that with his life. Especially his pain. It would be great to have a mist he could conjure up. He would use it to hide his pain and hurt.

Alex finished his shower and dressed in his red shirt with a yellow number one on it, dark gray skinny jeans and his olive-green hoodie. He adjusted his glasses on his face before grabbing his backpack and heading out the door. He hoped that he could beat his parents out the door. He did not really want to speak with them right now. He had too many unanswered questions. He also thought he did not want to give them any clue they knew about the secret room.

As he approached the kitchen, he could hear his mom and dad were already there. He could hear them talking but could not make out what they said. He took a deep breath and let it out. He had to calm himself before he met his parents.

"Do you want breakfast?" asked his mom.

"No," he said. "I am just going to eat on the way." He walked over to the pantry and pulled out a pack of blueberry pop-tarts.

"Did you have fun last night?" asked his father as he took a drink of his coffee.

"Yes, it was fun hanging out with everyone," he said. "I hope that we did not leave to big of a mess."

"No, it is fine," his mother said. "You can clean it up later today. It was nice to have your friends over."

"Uh, ok," said Alex hoping that his parents took it for teenage angst, Teenagers were not supposed to talk with their parents. Alex looked at his dad before heading out the door. Letting them know he did not want to talk about teenage affairs with his parents.


	16. Ch01n Shadowhunters on Lockdown

"The Seelie queen will be here soon," said Raj as he walked up to Alex.

"Is everything ready?" asked Alex.

"Yes, Luke and his entire pack is here," said Raj trying to keep up with the pace Alex was setting. "Raphael and his entire coven are here also."

"Good," said Alex he could tell that Raj was not happy with all the Downworlders in the Institute. Raj like most Shadowhunter's had a built-in prejudice against everyone that was not a Shadowhunter. The Clave literally brainwashed every Shadowhunter that they were superior to all the other creatures, be they werewolf, vampire, warlock, or mundane.

Alex thought that way until recently. Clary had opened his eyes to a different way of thinking. She was a Shadowhunter who was raised in the mundane's world. The Clave had not brainwashed her. When Alex first met her, he did not like her. Jase his adopted brother had taken a strong liking to her. Alex was jealous for he had a secret crush on Jase as well. He knew that nothing would come of it, but he secretly hoped that it would. Alex buried all those emotions deep down. Clary helped him face them and he could find true love in Magnus Bane.

It still brings a smile to his face when he thinks about that day. It was his wedding day. He was going to marry Heidi. When Magnus showed up, he knew he had to follow his heart. He was so terrified at what his mom would say. To his surprise, his mother was not mad that he was gay but, that he was in love with a warlock. Magnus Bane to be exact the high warlock of Brooklyn.

His mother's reaction showed him how narrow minded and bias the Clave's way of thinking was. It tasked them with defending the mundane against the demons' hordes. They looked on everything was not of the angel's blood as inferior. But, Clary showed him that all life was equal, and he would make sure that his Institute would reflect that.

He formed a council with the Downworlders. The Accords were the guidelines. But he wanted to include the vampires, werewolves, and the fair folk as equals. He wanted to give them a voice in how things were governed. The way things were now the Clave dictated how the races behaved, now some parts of the Accords were perfect. Not killing of mundane. Not letting the mundane know about their world. Alex understood and agreed with them. The ones that kept the races apart and at each other's throats he did not like.

"Is the guard ready to receive the queen?" ask Alex as he headed to the Institute's grand hall.

"Yes," said Raj

Alex walked into the grand hall of the Institute. There were around twenty Shadowhunters dressed in their black ceremonial gear. They looked very professional. Alex was proud of the Shadowhunters that reported to him. It took a while for them to fully trust him and he them. But it worked out somehow. His only concern was they were slowly dying out. Children were not being born fast enough to cover their losses. This Institute should have over three-hundred Shadowhunters living in it. Now, they barely had fifty on a good day.

Alex walked up to Magnus he could not help but give his lover a small smile. He tried hard to be professional when he was around Magnus especially, here at the Institute. He was on Shadowhunters and Downworlders business, so he needed to stay focused. But Magnus had awakened something in him. He had taught him that emotions must be controlled. To put the Clave, first and his on happiness was second. Magnus changed all of that. Now he had all these emotions and did not know how to express them. He would rather fight 100 demons than to deal with his emotions. Fortunately, Magnus knew how to deal with an emotionally stunted Shadowhunter. Which was why he was even more in love with the man.

"Can you open a portal, please?" He asked Magnus.

Magnus just smiled at him. "As you wish."

Magnus moved his arms and hands in fluid jesters. A purple-reddish ball of energy was cast from Magnus's hand. It arched through the air and landed in the archway's middle. It expanded and fill the archway. Once it filled the archway. Seelies came through.

Alex watched as the first couple of Seelies came through they were dressed in their armor. As more and more Seelies came through, he saw that they were all in armor. He looked over at Luke who was standing next to some of his werewolf pack mate. They saw it as well. He saw that Raphael, and the vampires were also getting a little concerned by the way they were acting. It relieved Alex when he saw more Shadowhunters enter the hall. Someone must have alerted them that something was wrong with their guest arrival. The queen finally arrived, and she was in armor as well. Armor on a Seelie meant they were at war.

"Greeting Alex leader of the New York Shadowhunters," said the small queen. "We have much to discuss."

"Yes, we do," stated Alex.

The queen grabbed his hand with her little hand and led him away from the grand hall. Even though he was the leader of the Institute, it was plain who was in charge here. The other Shadowhunters looked ready to attack. Alex gave them a nod to let them know he was ok. He saw that these Shadowhunters were heavily armed as well. It gave him a small sense of relief to see that his Shadowhunters were trying to protect him.

The others followed him to the council room. Even though he could never remember a time when the Seelie queen was in the institute. She knew exactly where to go. She took her seat to the right of his. Alex sat down as did Luke, Raphael, and Magnus who was on Alex's left.

"Why are the Seelie's wearing armor?" asked Magnus. He was putting voice to what everyone was thinking.

"We are at war," said the Queen.

"Did the Clave break an accord?" asked Alex.

"We are not at war with the Clave," said the Queen.

"Who are you at war with?" asked Raphael speaking for the first time.

"We don't know yet." said the Queen.

"What do you mean you don't know yet?" asked Luke.

"War is here, we don't know with whom yet." said the Queen. "Things will change when we get out of here. Something will change the world we know. Demons will not be the only thing that threatens us."


	17. Chapter 02 Arriving at School

**A/N**

**I hope that you were able to get through chapter 01 ok. I know that there were many characters added. I am slowing bring them together. I hope that as the story progress you will have enough information on each character that you feel like you know them.**

**CH02a Kyle XY, Roswell, Mutant X**

**CH02b Roswell, Vampire Diaries, Mutant X, Teen Wolf**

**CH02c Animorphs**

**Ch02d Secret Circle**

**Ch02e Terminator, Underworld, I Am Number Four**

**CH02f I Am Number Four, Terminator, Underworld**

**CH02g Vampire Diaries, Roswell, Mutant X**

**CH02h Nine Lives of Chloe King, Tomorrow People, Mutant X**

**CH02i Tomorrow People, Nine Lives of Chloe King, Mutant X**

**CH02j I Am Number Four, Teen Wolf**

**CH02k Underworld, Terminator, Secret Circle, Mutant X**

**CH02l Nine Lives of Chloe King, Teen Wolf**

**CH02m Kyle XY, Vampire Diaries, Teen Wolf**

**CH02n Heroes, Teen Wolf, Kyle XY, Vampire Diaries**

**CH02o Teen Wolf, Vampire Diaries, Kyle XY**

**CH02p Covenant**

**Do the graphics help? Let me know.**


	18. Ch02a Tragers in the Morning

Nicole pulled the SUV into the staff's parking lot. She grabbed the plaque and hung it from the rear-view mirror to let the security guard know it was ok for her to park there. She then pulled into the first parking spot she could find. She drank the last of her coffee, grabbed her stuff and stepped out, hoping that the kids didn't notice how nervous she was. She looked at them as they were getting out of the car. She was happy and nervous for each one, knowing starting a new school would be tough on the kids, especially high school.

"OK, for now on we have to take separate cars," said Josh. "This is not cool having your mom work at the same school."

"Why would it not be cool?" asked Kyle.

"Look if any of these hot mamas found out that our mom works at this school," said Josh. "It would totally ruin our chances of getting dates. Girls want bad boys. Not teacher's pets."

"Why do girls want to go out with bad boys?" asked Kyle. "Wouldn't they want a guy who treated them nice. A bad boy would mean that he breaks the law and would eventually go to jail. Do girls like seeing boys in jail?"

"Not all girls like bad boys," said Amanda looking at Kyle.

"OK, everyone you have your class schedule," said Nicole.

"Yes," said Kyle.

"I promise that I will try to stay out of your way," She said looking at Josh. "OK I am going to my office, please stay out of trouble."

"Me, get into trouble?" said Josh mockingly. Nicole just shook her head and walked towards the school.

"Well, I'm ready to take over this school," said Josh as he walked towards his class.

"That boy will find trouble," said Declan to Kyle, "So, do you think they have a good basketball team?"

"If not, with you on the team they will," said Kyle as they headed towards the school.

"Do all boys talk only about sports?" asked Jessi.

"Sports, girls, and video games," said Lori, "and not necessarily in that order." The girls all laughed and walked to find their classes.

Nicole watched them go and took a deep breath as she walked towards the office. Her phone notifications went off. She looked at it and saw the message.

"Good luck today, you got this," it read. It was from her twin sister, Elizabeth Forbes, the sheriff of The City of Beacon Hills. Good old Liz always knew how to make her feel better. She was proud that her sister made it to the Sheriff. It made her feel safer knowing she had someone in law enforcement on her side.

She remembered how Zzyzx Corp had the local police force in their back pocket. It was scary to think if they had come. They could forcibly, removed Kyle from their house, the police force would have looked the other way. That sent shivers down her spine. How pillars of society could be so corrupt.

She knew it would not happen here. One of the reason's they came to Beacon Hills was because Liz was the sheriff. There was one thing that was odd about this area is that they had three sheriffs. Liz was a sheriff of The City of Beacon Hills. Sheriff Stilenski was the county sheriff and Sheriff Valenti was the sheriff at large. Her sister said they were great sheriffs and got along with each other well.

She walked into the school building and towards the head office. She entered the office and saw a red-haired lady sitting at a desk, staring at a computer screen. She walked behind the counter expecting the woman to notice her, but; she didn't. Whatever was on the computer seemed to consume her. She walked towards the back room and made her way to the time clock. They showed the clock to her during orientation. There were several other people there as well. Some were clocking in, others were checking their mailboxes.

"Hi." said a light brown hair lady, "You must be new."

"Hi," said Nicole shaking the hand that was extended to her. "Nicole Trager."

"Emma deLauro," said Emma "I teach anatomy and physiology."

"Guidance Counselor," said Nicole.

"Oh, are you the one from Washington?" asked Emma.

"Yes," said Nicole punching her time clock.

" I heard that you did a really outstanding work out there with some troubled kids," said Emma.

"Thanks," said Nicole hoping that she would do OK with the kids here.

"I am glad that you are here," said Emma. "These kids could use a good counselor."

"Is it really that bad here?" asked Nicole. She remembered what her sister said about all the killings and the strange animal attacks that had gone on around here. She was sure that some kids had to be affected by that.

"Yes and no," said Emma. "Certain kids are oblivious as to what is going on around them. Others are special and need some help."

Nicole just nodded in agreement, wondering if she was up to the task. Her greatest fear was that she would get too attached to some kids.

"I need a good counselor myself just to keep myself grounded." Emma heard her think to herself.

"Nice meeting you," said Emma as she walked towards the door. "I have to go get my class set up."

"Nice meeting you too," said Nicole.

"Oh, by the way. I believe they hired another counselor last week. A Ms. Topolsky I believe her name is," said Emma walking out the door.

Nicole finished clocking in and headed out the door to the guidance counselor's offices with worry and doubts playing on her mind. She hoped that her nervousness and anxiety did not show. She walked down the hallway and into the guidance counselor's room.

"Hi," she said, as she came through the door, to a blonde hair lady sitting behind one of the desks. "You must be Ms. Topolsky?"

"Yes, call me Kathleen." said the blonde-hair lady.

"Nicole," said Nicole putting her stuff down and taking the extended hand that Kathleen offered and shaking it.

"You seem to have stacks of work," Nicole said, looking at the stacks of folders on her desk.

"Yes," said Kathleen moving back to her seat. "Well, I have been here for a week. The last counselor left none notes. I am trying to build a history for each student, so I... I mean we can help the students here. This will be hard since we are getting many students from Paradise High."

"Oh, good thinking," said Nicole. Paradise High was hit by a terrorist attack. Luckily, they attacked at night and they killed none of the students. She heard one janitor lost his life. The school was so badly damaged that the school board sent the students to other schools in the area. "How can I help?"

"Well, you can go through these," said Kathleen handing her a large stack of folders.


	19. Ch02b Max, Liz, and Blood

Max pulled his jeep into the parking lot. He and Isabel got out of the jeep. A blue jeep pulled up next to "Bob" it was the name he gave his jeep. A skinny kid got out of it, well he more or less fell out.

"Hi Isabel," said the guy fumbling around trying to get his backpack out.

"Hi Stiles," said Isabel. Stiles kept looking around. He always seemed so nervous.

"Hi Max," said Stiles "Have you seen Scott?"

"No," said Max. Isabel shook her head no. They knew he referred to Scott McCall. Everyone knew they were best friends.

"Thanks," said Stiles as he headed towards the school looking for Scott.

"I'll see you later," Isabel said to him as she walked towards a group of girls.

Max grabbed his backpack from out of the back of Bob and looked around and saw Michael walking towards him.

"Hi," said Max.

"So, have you seen her yet?" asked Michael running his hand through his spikey hair.

"No, just got here," said Max. "We have the first period together. I will talk to her then."

"What are you going to say?" asked Max.

"I am not sure yet," said Max. "I will see what she says first."

"Max don't do anything foolishly," said Michael.

"Don't worry Michael, I have already gone over this with Isabel," said Max.

"What did she say?" asked Michael walking beside Max

"Basically, the same thing you did," said Max. "But she was a little more dramatic about it."

"Good ole Isabel," said Michael "Maybe she talked some sense into you. Just don't screw this up."

"I will Michael," said Max. "I gotta go, I want to get to class early. Liz normally gets there early to help set everything up. I am hoping that I can talk to her then."

"Ok I'll catch you later," said Michael as he walked off to his class.

Max walked to his locker and emptied his backpack into it. He took his biology book out and folder and put it into his backpack. Shut his locker and walked towards his first class. There was no one in the halls yet. The bell was still 15 to 20 minutes from ringing. He wasn't sure what he would say to Liz. He wanted to tell her so badly the truth. But he knew he could not. He felt like he was in a damned if you do and damned if you don't, type of situation.

'Ok I will tell her,' he said to himself. 'What if she freaks out? What if she runs away and laughs at me? What if she tells the authorities?..'

'No, I will tell her that I found her lying on the floor. I thought it was blood. But it turned out to be ketchup,' he said to himself. 'But what if she asked why I broke a bottle of ketchup and poured it on her? What if she says she felt the bullet when it hit her. What if she doesn't believe me but thinks that I am a freak.'

He arrived in the classroom. He looked in saw Liz. She was wiping down the tables. She did not see him. She was just beautiful. The way she moved was hypnotizing him. Her dark hair flowing perfectly down her back. Her curves. 'Stop Max,' he said to himself. He steadied himself and opened the door.

"Hi Mr. Evans," said Ms. DeLauro. "Did you come to help?"

"Hi Ms. DeLauro," said Max his anxiety rising. He forgot that his teacher would be in class also. How was he going to talk to Liz without her hearing? "Huh, yeah I uh, need to know if any homework is due today."

Liz just stops what she was doing and looked at him. She seemed a little nervous and maybe scared. Max thought to himself. His heart broke just looking at her like this. Why did those men have to come into the Crash Down that day? If they haven't shown up there. Things would be back to the way they were. He could admire Liz from a distant and she would be safe and happy. His head was hurting just thinking about this.

"All homework is due at the end of the week," said Ms. deLauro.

"Oh ok... Thanks," said Max as he headed towards the door.

"Well since you are here," said Ms. deLauro. "Why don't you help Ms. Parker set up the stations for class."

Max looked at her, then to Liz. Liz turned away from him, so he could not see her face. "Sure, what do you need me to do?" His heart quickened its pace a little just by being near her.

"Well you can help me get the kits out of the back," said Ms. deLauro as she walked towards the storage area at the back of the class. He looked at Liz she was still wiping tables, but she did glance at him quickly. He still could not tell how she felt. He wished that Ms. deLauro would leave.

"Ok here they are," said Ms. deLauro as she opened the bottom cabinet and pulled out a plastic container. "Ok, I need you to check each kit to make sure that there is alcohol swabs and gauze pads in each one." She gave the container to Max and he carried it out to the classroom and set it on a table.

"Ms. Parker once you finish cleaning the tables can you help Mr. Evans here with the kits. Make sure that each station gets one kit," said Ms. DeLauro.

Max could not believe his luck. He looked at Ms. deLauro and she gave him a wink and a smile as if she knew Max wanted to talk with Liz. Max just smiled back at her with gratitude as she left the classroom.

The moment has finally arrived, and Max was terrified. He needed to tell her something but didn't know what to say. He continued to look at the kits they all appeared to have complete sets. Liz goes over and puts the cleaning supplies up. "Ok Max," he says to himself. "Just act natural and cool."

He started to put the kits on the table. "We need to talk," said Liz.

"Ok," said Max as he put the last kit on the table. The bell rang, and relief flooded through his body. He needed more time to prepare for this.

"After class," said Liz as she walked to her station and sat down. Max sat down next to her and pulled out his book and notebook out of his backpack. He put a pencil in his mouth and was digging for a pen. The other students started to pile into the classroom and take their seats. A new kid came in also. He handed Ms. deLauro his schedule she looked at it and handed it back to him.

"Everyone this Mr. Kyle Trager he a new student. So please make him feel welcome," said Ms. DeLauro. "Mr. Trager there is a station in the back. For right now you will have to do the assignment alone." The guy went to the lab table and sat down.

"Can you meet me in the band room after class," said Max.

"Ok," said Liz.

"Ok, class I hope that everyone read over the assignments on blood types. Because today we are going to put into practice what you should have read."

The door to the classroom open and in walked a brown-haired boy. Ms. deLauro looked at him intensely for a second and grabbed the sheet of paper out of his hand, looked over it, and handed it back.

"Everyone this is Mr. Stefan Salvatore. Mr. Salvatore, please take a seat next to Mr. Trager who is also new to the class." Pointing to where Mr. Trager was sitting in the back.

"Ok class," said Ms. deLauro. "Today we are going to look at blood samples and figure out blood types using the kits provided. So, I want everyone to pull out their microscopes and the blood kits. Put a drop of blood on a slide and examine it. Notice the characteristics of the blood and answer the questions on the worksheet."

"Mr. Evans," said Ms. deLauro. "You have a question."

"Yes," said Max. "Can I go to the bathroom."

"Sure," said deLauro. "But first come here."

Max walked up to Ms. deLauro. He could not believe it. She quickly grabbed his hand and drew blood from his finger and put it on a microscope slide. All while saying this isn't going to hurt. She handed him a hall pass and handed the slide to Liz. Max just looked at her hoping that she did not see the color drained from his face. He hoped that the slide would fall and break. He thought about turning his blood into a bird's blood. But, did not have time to do it without people noticing. The bird was the first animal he healed so he instinctively knew that blood type.

Max walked out of the classroom and to the boy's bathroom. He checked underneath each stall to make sure that no one else was in here with him. He turned on the water at the sink. Splashed water on to his face and looked in the mirror. He wished that the water could have washed off what had just happened.

'Get a grip. Maxwell,' he said to himself.

Max wiped his face with some paper towels and went back to class. As he entered the class, he looked at Liz first. She was looking at him with so many questions on her expression. He just gave her a small smile. He looked around to see if anyone else noticed anything. The new kid Stefan Salvatore was looking at him strangely.

'He must have seen something,' thought Max.

"Ok, class you should now have your results. Be sure to put them on the answer key," said Ms. DeLauro.

"We need to talk, "said Liz under her breath.

The bell rang, So Max acted like he did not hear her.

"Ms. Parker will you collect the results please and put them on my desk before you leave," said Ms. deLauro.

Max could have kissed Ms. deLauro she brought him some more time. He handed Liz his results and grabbed his backpack and headed out the door. He needed more time to think.


	20. Ch02c Animorphs Gather at the Flagpole

"Hi," said Jake walking up to the gang. Marco was leaning against the flagpole. They all greeted him back. Each one of them looked exhausted.

"Jake, I saw nothing last night," said Rachel. "Neither did anyone else."

"I know. I didn't either. I spoke with Tobias and Ax. We have seen no signs of you know who," said Jake as he looked around making sure no one was near them. They always met at the flagpole in the morning to update each other about the Yeerks. It was an area that everyone knew but no one hung out there, so they decided it would be a place they could meet in the morning and talk without looking too suspicious for the Yeerks. Just a bunch of kids talking before school starts.

"It is like they just disappeared," said Cassie. "We haven't seen or heard from them in months.

"Maybe they got scared and headed for the hills," said Marco. "Once they figured out, we would defeat them, they decided to move on to better pastures or, in their case, planets."

"I am not sure," said Jake. "They don't seem like the type that would pack up and leave."

"Have we even seen Visser 3 lately," thought Tobias as he arrived above them. If anyone would have looked up that day, they would have seen a hawk circling overhead.

"Guys, I know that we have seen no Yeerks lately," said Jake. "But something is going on. There is something in the woods. I just feel it."

They all looked at him. Each one with a concerned look on their face. He could tell that they felt something was not right as well.

"So, you have been feeling it too?" asked Jake.

"I know what you mean. I was out on patrol in my owl morph and I could feel something. I can't describe it exactly, but I morphed into my battle morph. But I must admit, even while I was in that morph, I was still a little bit afraid," said Rachel.

"I thought I was the only one who felt that way," said Cassie. "There was definitely something in the woods last night. It made me feel like I could have been the one who was hunted. I also switched into wolf form and I still felt like prey. There should be nothing in the woods right now able to take on a full-grown wolf. Are there bears or mountain lions in the area?"

"I felt nothing different," thought Ax from the flagpole as a lizard. "But I noticed that all the nighttime creatures were quiet. This made me quite uneasy. I could not understand why the woods were silent. I even morphed into my Andalite self to see if I could pick out anything different. But still there was silence. "

Everyone knew Ax's natural form was his battle morph. They knew if Ax went into his natural form, he must have been badly spooked.

Just then the morning bell rang, signaling the start of school. They all groaned at the thought of school. Jake knew they needed about a week off just to recover from the constant patrolling and always being on high alert. It took an emotional toll on them. Not to mention they all needed sleep.

"OK, we will talk more about this at lunch," said Jake trying to hold back a yawn. It didn't work soon the yawn made its rounds to all his friends as each one of them tried to not yawn but they were unsuccessful.

Gathering up their stuff they all walked in silence towards the school. To a casual observer just some friends going to class. Upon closer observation, someone could tell that the four students walking to their class were deep in thought and anxious.

"I felt something as well," said Marco in a sober voice to Jake. "It made me feel really uncomfortable. I am not sure it was the Yeerks. I mean I know how they make me feel. But this was different."

"I know what you mean," said Jake. "Something is going on. I hope we find out about it before it is too late. I hope that the Yeerks don't have something more diabolical up their sleeve than what we have seen. I am not sure if we can take much more."

Marco put his hand on Jake shoulder and gave it a squeeze letting his best friend know he was there for him. Jake just nodded at him as they separated and went to their classes.

The hawk who always seemed to circle during this time in the morning flew towards a tree on the east side of the school. It landed on a branch and peered into a school window. The hawk always looked for the window that had a certain blonde girl in it.

Rachel hurried to her class. She took her seat and looked out the window. She looked at the branch where Tobias was. She really liked his hawk form.

"You ok," thought spoke Tobias to her.

"Yes," she thought spoke back. "I had a fantastic time last night."

"I did too," Tobias thought spoke back. "I love flying with you."

Rachel's mind went back to last night. Her and Tobias were both in their hawk forms. They flew through the air. Every once in a while, they would touch each other. To someone looking at them, they would have thought the hawks were fighting. But, in reality, they were playing. It was exhilarating to her. She blushed at how intimate it was.

"I need to go," thought spoke Tobias. "I am going to meet Ax this morning we are going to go over some things."

Tobias looked at Ax in his lizard form. He watched as the lizard scurried down the flagpole and towards a row of bushes. In a few seconds, a small brown dog came out where the lizard went in. The dog must have known where it was going because it ran down the street without stopping to smell anything,


	21. Ch02d The Circle in the Morning

Jake nodded his head as he walked up to Faye, Melissa, and Diana. They were standing near the side entrance of the school. He could tell that something worried them it showed in their eyes. He worried also and hoped that his eyes did not betray him.

"Morning, sleepyhead," said Faye teasing towards Jake. Jake could tell that she was nervous in the way she acted. She always acted a little slutty to get his attention. But this did not have the sexual undertones she normally inserts when she speaks to him.

"Morning," Jake said not to Faye directly, but to Cassie and Adam who were walking up. He liked to get Faye jealous. He knew that she was jealous of Cassie. This would normally upset Faye so much so she would try even harder to sleep with him. But this time she didn't seem to care. This upset him a little, he enjoyed having some power over Faye. She could be too full of herself and believes that she can have any guy she set her mind too. Jake could play the 'I don't care game' better than Faye. Faye lost the game when Jake realized that she really did like him. He just did not feel the same way towards her that she felt towards him.

"Hi," said Adam. Cassie just nodded as she looked around at the others. She could tell that they wanted to say something but, could not come up with the words to get it started.

"OK is everyone freaked out about the dream as I am," said Melissa. Leave it to her to find the right words to say.

"See I told you if we didn't bind the circle," said Faye. She did not like having to have another witch around to perform a spell. The binding bound their magic together. If not bounded their magic would be unpredictable and dangerous. Especially to themselves. She understood why it needed to be bound. She did not like it. It really went against her personality. "We would not have to worry about all of this stuff."

"We don't need to rehash the binding thing again," said Adam to Faye. She just looked at him in disgust.

"OK back to the subject people," said Diana before Faye could get into another argument over the Circle being bound. "There has to be a meaning for the dream we all had. I think this, whatever this is. Will affect the Circle."

"What gave you that idea," said Faye taking some of her frustrations out on Diana. "The fact that we all had the same dream or that it was creepy as hell."

"I told my grandmother this morning," said Cassie. "To see if she has any idea what is going on."

"You should not have gone to an elder yet," said Jake. "They might strip of our powers if they think it will keep us safe."

They all knew that their parents' Circle had their powers stripped when they were their age. They knew that each one of them lost a parent. To this day they still don't know what happened with them. The parents that are left do not talk about. It is as if they do not remember it. The Elders, their grandparents also are very tight-lip on the subject. But when you do bring the subject up. You can see the pain that it causes them before they change the subject.

"I looked at my Book of Shadows this morning. But I did not see anything about collective dreams," said Diana. "I sure that there is something about dreams in there. I just did not have time to go through it carefully."

"Maybe it was not a true dream," said Jake deep in thought.

"What do you mean it is not a dream?" asked Faye.

"I said 'True Dream' I think that it might be more," said Jake.

"What do you mean by a true dream?" asked Cassie and Adam at the same time.

Jake looked at them. He did not like the way that they were in sync sometimes. "I am not sure. But when I was with the hunters, they were not always hunting Circle witches."

"What does that mean?" asked Melissa.

"Look I am not sure, but I need to check on some things. I will see you later," Jake said as he walked off the school grounds as the bell rang.

"That bastard," said Faye loud enough for him to hear. "He knows more than he's letting on."

"Faye!" Diana said. "Look we need to work together on this. I say we meet up with Cassie and her grandmother after school to see what she knows."

"The party in the woods is this weekend. Melissa and I were going to do some shopping tonight," said Faye as she started to walk towards the school entrance. "I don't want to meet with some old lady tonight."

"Well, my grandmother has to work at seven tonight," said Cassie. "So, we should be done before the store closes."

"OK, fine we will meet at Cassie's house after school then," said Melissa wrapping an arm around Faye's arm and walking off with her. "So, what outfit do you think we should get from the mall?"

"Something that is going to drive the boys' crazy and the girls envious," said Faye walking off with Melissa.

"Well the wonder sluts seem to be taking this seriously," said Adam. "Look, everyone, be on guard. We don't know what the dream means if anything."

The bell rang. They all dispersed to their class. Cassie looked at Adam before turning and going to class. He could tell that he was extremely worried. She had seen several images of him in the dream. All the images had a bad feeling attached to them about him. She could tell that he knew as well. She smiled at him to try to reassure him before heading to class


	22. Ch02e Terminator in the Office

Cameron walked with John into the school primary office. She quickly took a scan of the surrounding area. There was a red-haired lady talking to a man and a girl at the counter. The girl was signing a piece of paper on a clipboard. Her analysis concluded that the red-headed lady was not a threat. There were people in the back part of the office. She could not get a good scan of them but knew they were four females.

The girl finished signing the sign-in sheet. The man and the girl went to sit in the chairs on the right farthest from the door.

"I'll be with you in a moment, please sign the clipboard and take a seat." said the red-haired lady going back to her desk.

John signed the clipboard and sat down opposite the man and the girl. Cameron sat next to him. His elevated heart rate and temperature suggested that he was still angry about what had happened at breakfast. He had not wanted to talk on his way to school and Cameron did not pursue a conversation. Analyzing a 90% probability he will get over this emotion by the time school was over. Perplexed, she was with John's emotions, even though John programmed her to understand him. Humans were extremely hard to figure out on an emotional level.

Cameron made another scan of the area. She analyzed the man with the girl. The man dressed in well-fitting clothes. He had dark hair and fair skin. Her threat posture went up. There was something very different about this man. His heart rate, perspiration, and breathing were not normal for a human. His body temperature was a lot lower. His pheromones were something she had never encountered before. Her analysis puts this man as a threat. She did not know if it was a new hunter-killer class terminator. So far it made no moves of aggression. But he seemed to concentrate on her, without trying to be obvious about it. He seemed to be listening for something.

The girl next to him had dark hair that hung below her shoulders and fair skin like the man. Her analysis of her was even more complex. She seemed to have human pheromones mixed with some unknown ones as well. But, hers were different. Almost as if she was born a human and something else. She needed a more detail analysis to be certain of the data. She also seemed to be overly excited and was trying to control herself. The girl took everything in the office. She was very intentional in her movements. Cameron deducted with a 56% probability she was purposely slowing herself down to human speed.

Cameron increased her threat level again. She predicted with a 47% probability they were not after John or did not recognize him. Two more people walked into the office. One was a tall blonde guy, and the other was smaller and had brown hair. Her scan put him at a 1% chance of a threat. The taller blonde male carried himself differently. His temp, breathing, and perspiration were normal. His pheromones were absent. All humans gave off pheromones. This one did not.

She increased her threat posture, moving closer to John and diverting more processing power to analyzing this additional information. After they signed the clipboard the two males sat in seats between her and John and the man and the girl. The man looked at the blonde hair guy as well. Cameron concluded that the man also seemed to be very curious about the blonde guy. The girl seemed to move more defensively closer to the man instinctively.

Cameron moved into more of a protective mode towards John. The door open and two teachers walk in through the door. They headed towards the back where boxes that had labels with names on them. The blonde female teacher pulled three pieces of papers from a box labeled S. Fox. The man pulled out a magazine from a box labeled B. Mulwray. They were talking to each other; Cameron was unable to hear clearly what was said. The blonde teacher looked past her counterpart towards the man sitting next to the girl. He was looking at her as well. Her eyes flashed a yellow-orange color and her pupils went to slits for less than a second.

The man and the girl saw this as did the blonde hair guy. Her analysis concluded that there were stress pheromones from the teachers. The man and girl were giving off pheromones that she could not analyze. The blonde guy's heart rate increased due to the tension. She was about to go into combat mode when the red-haired receptionist calls the dark hair girl over to her. The Receptionist gave her a piece of paper with her schedule on it and a map of the school. Cameron looked around for the teachers, but they seemed to have left without her noticing it. The man and the girl thanked the receptionist. Cameron overheard the man tell the girl to have fun and that he would pick her up in front of the school as they walked out the door.

The receptionist called for Sam Goode and John Smith next. John was about to get up when Cameron stopped him. The other two boys got up and went to the counter. Her John looked at her for a second. She analyzed a less than three percent chance that the real John Smith would be at this school now. She got up to look at something on the bulletin board. She overheard the receptionist give the boys their schedules. She determined with a 98% accuracy that the blonde guy was John Smith. The John Smith from Paradise, Ohio. As she was going towards the bulletin board, she timed it so that when he turned around he would bump into her. She touched his arm to get a better sample so that she can do a complete analysis later. She said excuse me and went to the bulletin board as if that was her purpose for bumping into him. She glanced over to her John and noticed that he was looking at her like she was malfunctioning. She would have to fill him in later.

"Cameron Smith and John Smith." said the red-haired receptionist. She turned around and met John at the counter. She could tell that he was stressed since the other guy was the real John Smith.

"Here are your schedules," she said, handing their schedules to them. "OK, you are both here." pointing to the map of the school. Cameron matched it with the school building plans that she had downloaded off the internet. She now knew which classrooms went with which teacher. "Sorry, that I called the other people before you. I had their schedules already printed and pulled their name first by accident."

"Not a problem, said Cameron.

"John, your class is here," she said. "Go out towards the left and up the stairs, you can't miss it. Cameron your class is here to the right out in the portables area. You can go out the front of the school and walk around or you can go out the side doors to the outside, then turn right." She smiled at them and went back to her computer.

"Thank you," said John looking at his schedule for a minute, then grabbing his backpack from the chair and following Cameron out the door.

"I cannot believe how lucky we are," said John.

"This is not luck," said Cameron. "Be on guard."


	23. Ch02f Aliens in the Office

Four and Sam walked towards the school's front office. There were several kids who were waiting in there as well. There was a sign-in sheet on the counter. Four and Sam signed the check-in sheet and sat down in the empty chairs to wait. Four looked around the office. It was a very typical school office. The receptionist was an overweight middle-aged redheaded woman with thick glasses on her face looking at the computer screen.

Four looked around at the people who were waiting in the office. On his left, there was a dark-haired guy sitting next to a dark-haired pretty girl. The boy looked bored. The girl was pretty, but her actions were strange to Four. She looked like she was constantly checking for threats. She was not making it obvious, but Four could tell that she keeps on guard methodically. The girl checked him out several times, but her primary focus seemed to be on the other two people were on his and Sam's right, two chairs down.

In the chairs, there is a man and a girl sitting next to each other. The girl had long dark hair just below her shoulders. She looked very excited to be in the office. She keeps looking around at everything and taking it in. Almost like she had never been in school before. She looks at Four and smiled. Four smiled back. She at once turned her head away and Four could have sworn she was blushing. He looked at the man beside her. He was a well-dressed good-looking man, Four supposed. But there was an air of danger about him. Upon closer examination, there was an air of power and danger about both. Four could tell that something was different about them. The man looked at him, and he could have sworn he sniffed him.

Two teachers walked into the room talking. One was a beautiful blonde woman and her partner who was a well-muscled dark hair guy. They walked behind the counter towards the mailboxes. Four could have sworn that the female eyes flashed a yellow-orange when she looked at the man. The man seemed too tense. The atmosphere in the room went tense. Even the boy who was bored was paying attention now. The teacher with blonde hair looked away and went to her mailbox to get her mail, followed by the dark hair guy who looked like he was trying to protect her while trying not to make it noticeable.

"Miss. Corvin." said the red hair receptionist. She was the only one in the room that didn't seem to have noticed the tension in the room. "I have you all set up. Here are your class schedule and the map of the school. I placed an X on where you are now. If you go out that door and take a right, you will find your first class."

The two teachers had vanished. The man said something about picking up the girl after school and to have fun as they were walking out the door. The red hair lady went to her desk and the tension in the room went down somewhat. But both the girl and boy seemed to have a little tension between them. Sam was also tense Four could tell.

"I hope that I don't get gym first period," said Sam. "I don't want to stink for the rest of the day."

Sam has been getting up with Six in the early morning and doing a morning workout routine. Sam was making small talk when he was nervous.

"I know what you mean," said Four. "I hate doing exercise early in the morning."

"Sam Goode and John Smith." said the red-haired lady looking at Sam and Four.

Sam and Four got up and went to the counter. Four noticed that the guy was also going to get up, but at the last moment decided not to. If was almost as if he heard his name called as well. The red hair lady had handed them their schedules. "You are here," she said, pointing to the map on the counter with her finger. "Mr. Goode your first class is here." she pointed her finger to where Sam's class was. "So, go out this door and turn towards your right and then take the second left, your class will be on the right."

"Thank you," said Sam then looking at Four. "I will see you around."

"See ya," said Four as Sam left the office.

"Mr. Smith your first class is on the third floor," she said. "The easiest way to go is out the door and you will see the stairs, across the hallway on the left. Go up to the third floor and take a right and your classroom will be on the right side, the second door down."

Four studied the map for a moment acting like he was following along with her directions. But he was looking for escape routes and places that he could use defensively in case the Mogs showed up. Four turned and went to the chair to pick up his backpack. He turned around, he ran into the dark-haired girl that acted a little strange to Four. She accidentally bumped into him and touched his arm.

"Oh, excuse me." she said in a typical teenage girl "I wasn't looking where I was going." She moved over to the bulletin board where some announcement was and started to read the information.

"That is OK," said Four but started rubbing his arm. It felt like he had his essence analyzed. There was something different about this girl that Four could not put his finger on. He thought maybe she was a Mogadorian, but he wasn't sure. All he knew is that he did not trust her. So, he slung his backpack over his shoulder and hurried out the door. He took a quick glance at the boy and notice that he was looking at her strangely. The look on his face was towards her was are you broken.


	24. Ch02g Stefan and Alien Blood

Stefan walked out of the head office of the school after compelling the red-haired receptionist to enroll him into the high school. High school he never thought he would go back. But when he came back to visit his great-great-nephew. He could not believe it. He saw the one woman he loved and loathed at the same time. But he found out that Elena Gilbert was not Catherine Pierce. He had to get to know her. Enrolling in high school would allow him to at least get near to her. If only to see if the chemistry was there.

He had biology first period. He was a little late, and the class had already started. He walked in and gave the teacher Ms. E. deLauro his class schedule. She looked at him, and he sensed someone was trying to get into his mind. He at once brought his walls up to protect his mind. She looked at his schedule and then handed it back to him.

"Welcome, Mr. Salvatore. "She said to him and then turn to the class. "Everyone this is Mr. Stefan Salvatore. Mr. Salvatore, please take a seat next to Mr. Trager who is also new to the class." She pointed to a dark-haired boy with blue eyes sitting in the rear of the class.

He sat next to a guy with dark hair and blue eyes. "Hi, I'm Kyle," said the guy.

"Stefan."

"OK class," said deLauro. "Today we will look at blood samples and figure out your blood types using the kits provided. So, I want everyone to pull out their microscopes and the blood kits. Put a drop of blood on a slide and examine it. Notice the characteristics of the blood and answer the questions on the worksheet."

Stefan could feel the veins around his eyes coming to the surface. He fed on a badger and a rabbit this morning. "He hoped that they would satisfy his thirst somewhat." He thought to himself as he helped Kyle set up the microscope.

"I don't like blood," Stefan said to Kyle jokingly.

"I can go first if you want me too," said Kyle.

"No that is OK," said Stefan.

"Mr. Evans." said deLauro. "You have a question."

"Yes." said the dark-haired boy. "Can I go to the bathroom?"

"Sure," said deLauro. "But first come here."

The dark-haired boy walked up to the front of the class. The teacher grabbed his hand. "Don't worry Mr. Evans this will not hurt that much," she said as she grabbed his hand.

"OK class this is really simple, so pay attention. First, you want to wipe off the finger with the alcohol pad that is provided." She took Mr. Evans hand and wiped off a fingertip. "Then you want to get the lancet and twist off the top. Put it against the tip of the finger and press the button and then put a small drop of blood on the slide and then put the other slide on top of it."

She did all of this in one swift motion. The dark-haired boy turned two shades lighter. Stefan wasn't sure about the boy. But when the scent of his blood hit him. He could feel the veins appearing. He never smelled something so enticing before. That boy's blood was calling to the ripper side of him. He grabbed the side of the table to steady himself.

"Thank you, Mr. Evans," said deLauro handing him a hall pass. "You can go to the restroom. Ms. Parker here is Mr. Evans blood for you to examine. He can get yours when he gets back."

Stefan felt the veins in his face go back to normal. It was an effort to keep them there. He could smell the blood of the other students. But the smell of Mr. Evans was one of the hardest for him to resist.

"Are you OK?" asked Kyle.

Stefan looked at Kyle. The look on his face wasn't one of fear. Most people showed fear when they saw him in his vampire form. But Kyle did not show any. Maybe Kyle did not see the veins.

"Your veins around your eyes got more prominent," said Kyle.

"Well, that answered that question." Thought Stefan as he leaned into Kyle and looked him in the eyes. "You didn't see anything. You will forget what you saw," said Stefan compelling him. Kyle looked at him with a puzzled look. He didn't say anything to him though.

"So, do you have the kit?" asked Stefan.

"Yes," said Kyle as he pulled out the kits and got everything ready. Stefan held out his hand and Kyle got blood from it. Stefan did the same to Kyle.

Mr. Evans walked in from the bathroom looking a little scared as he sat next to Liz. Stefan tried to listen to their conversation, but Ms. deLauro was next to him.

"Hi gentlemen," said Ms. deLauro. "How is everything going? I know that this is your first day in class so some of this might be new to you. So, it is OK if you cannot complete the project."

"Thank you," said Stefan turning to look at Kyle who was blotting the blood on the card. "So, what do we have?"

"I am doing my blood now. I have done this test before I am O positive," said Kyle handing the kit to Stefan.

Stefan smeared his blood onto the circle on the paper. He was doing it absent-mindedly and did not see that the blood was turning black on the paper. He could still smell the blood coming from Mr. Evans and Liz's table.

"Ms. Parker can you please collect the kits for me," said Ms. DeLauro. "Everyone else please put your microscopes up and deposit your slides in the sharps' container."

The bell rang. Stefan got up and headed towards the door as fast as humanly possible. He did not go into vamp speed. He wanted to get away from the smell of Mr. Evans' blood.


	25. Ch02h Cat with Love on the Brain

Alek watched Chloe weave in between the students in the hallway. She was so graceful. He loved to watch her walk. He tried to clamp down on his feelings. His job was here to protect the Uniter, not date her. But he wanted to date her so badly. He loved how she smelled. Her walk.

"Stop thinking of her like that." thought Alek to himself as he sat down at his desk. I must protect her from the other Prides and the Order. Alek worried about the other Prides especially with what the pride from Brazil did. He felt something brush against his mind like a probe. He had heard about some Mai having some telepathic ability. But he thought that ability died out ages ago. He looked around to see who was doing this. His eyes settled on Stephen Jameson. He looked at him in the eyes, he felt a stronger probe into his mind this time. This angered him, and he let Stephen know it by flashing his eyes at him. If he was a Mai, he would have to respond. But Stephen eyes stay the same and looked startled that Alek did that. He was so startled that he grabbed his desk like he was trying to stay seated.

"OK everyone please take your seats and put your cell phones away," said Mr. Mulwray as he walked into class. "Mr. Jameson can you please collect everyone homework."

Alek put his body in a fast response mode. To anyone looking at him, they would have seen a teenage boy sloughing. But to anyone who was a Mai, they would have seen a teenage Mai ready for danger. Alek watched Stephen get up and collect everyone's homework. Alek knew if Stephen was a Mai that he would have responded. Alek was also sure that was the one trying to scan his mind.

"Are you OK Jameson?" asked Alek balancing on the back of the legs of his chair. "You look like something that the cat dragged in."

Stephen just gave him a strange look but did not answer him as he took his paper and walked towards the front of the class. Alek watched as Stephen put the papers on Mr. Mulwray desk. Alek felt someone kick the chair out from beneath him. Alek didn't fall because of his Mai abilities. But the chair made a loud crash, and everyone turned and looked at him.

"Mr. Petrov," said Mr. Mulwray. "How many times have I told you not to lean back in your chair?"

"Sorry Mr. Mulwray," said Alek placing his chair back into its correct position. He looked at Stephen and noticed that he was staring at him weirdly. This seemed to irritate him even more. "Get a hold of yourself." he thought to himself. He was not sure why he was angry with Stephen. But there was something about him that was different. He wondered if he was a Jackal. He sat down and looked towards the door as a brunette girl was coming into class. She headed towards Mr. Mulwray and handed him a sheet of paper.

"Hi Ms. Cameron Smith," said Mr. Mulwray. "Welcome to class. Please take any empty seat that is available."

Alek watched as the brunette took a seat in the middle of the classroom. She was pretty for a human he supposed. But there was something kind of off about her. Her movements were slightly different from most humans. He could not figure it out. But there was something different about her. He glanced over at Stephen and saw that he was looking at the new girl a little funny as well.

"OK clear your desk, everyone," said Mr. Mulwray. "Pop quiz." There were several loud sighs as kids cleared their desks "This should be a breeze if you read last night reading."

Alek received his quiz from the person in front of him. He looked over at Stephen, who was already writing on his paper. He looked over at the new girl. She was looking around the classroom. She seemed perfectly normal to him now. "Maybe these nighttime training exercises are getting to him." he thought to himself.

"Ms. Smith, you don't need to take the test. But while everyone else is you can read over last night reading pages 118 to 121," said Mr. Mulwray.

Alek finished the pop quiz and placed it on Mr. Mulwray's desk. On his way, back to his desk, he looked over at Stephen again. Stephen still had his head down doing his quiz. Alek sat down and looked over at the new girl. She was still looking around the room. She looked at him and smiled and continue looking around the room. There was something off about her, but Alek could not put his finger on it.

"Maybe because she was new." Thought Alek to himself.

Mr. Mulwray started lecturing the class. Alek mind started drifting back to Chloe and how he was going to protect her from the Order, but mostly his mind went back to her smile and the way her body moved when she walked.

"Stop that," he said to himself. "Focus."

He looked at Stephen, there was something there that his Mai self-was warning him about. Stephen had his elbow on the desk and hand underneath his chin looking like a typical bored kid in class. Alek could not see his face. He assumed that it had a bored expression on like everyone else in Mr. Mulwray's class. Alek needed to find out what Stephen saw. He could have accidentally put the Mai at risk by provoking Stephen to show that he was a Mai. His mind started to race on how many Mai laws he broke today. Valentina was going to be infuriated with him for exposing himself to humans. The bell rang and brought his brain back to reality. He grabbed his stuff and headed out the door. He needed to find Stephen.


	26. Ch02i I can Read Your Mind and Still

Stephen sat down at his desk and pulled out his homework for his English class. He quickly did a slight telepathic scan of the surrounding people. Just a surface scan to see how the mood was. Most of the girls' thoughts were on how hot Mr. Mulwray was. Girls' thoughts were so different from the way guys think. Where guys go straight for outward body features first. This is where most guys stayed in that area for most of their relationship with the girl. Especially in high school, guys were more into looks than really getting to know the girl. Girls, on the other hand, went right for the romantic stuff. Like strength, valor, and humor. Then they went for looks afterward. Some girls went for looks also but, normally it was just because they wanted to make other girls or even a guy that they liked jealous. Stephen understood that, but that is how it worked sometimes.

Most of the guys that Stephen scanned were in the numb phase. The numb phase was when a guy just basically did not think of anything at that time. Girls did not seem to have this ability. They always seemed to think of something, sometimes more than one something. It was sometimes exhausting for him to follow along a girl's train of thought. He was glad that his type of telepathy was not always on. He would be in a mental institution like Eichen House. He had to concentrate to hear people's thoughts. He was glad that his telepath worked more like a telephone. He could think of someone miles away and then say 'hi' in their mind. If they were like him. He could hear their response. This was a great access when they were fighting against Ultra.

Stephen picked up something not quite right with Alek. His mind was not like others, Stephen could not explain it. He knew Alek mind was different. He would have to ask his mom about it. He was thinking about the Uniter and that Uniter was Chloe King. Alek's mind differed from the others in the class. Stephen did a little deeper scan to see what Chloe King and this Uniter means. Stephen focused in on Alek. Trying to drown out the other minds in the room. He peered into Alek's eyes to get a better connection. Alek's eyes changed into what looked like a cat's eyes. Stephen was so startled that he almost teleported out of the classroom in front of everyone.

"OK, everyone please take your seats and put your cell phones away," said Mr. Mulwray as he walked into class. "Mr. Jameson can you please collect everyone's homework."

Stephen got up and collected the papers. His telepathy not as developed as Cara's, but he could still read surface scans easy enough. He noticed Alek still staring at him. He tried another scan but met with resistance this time. Stephen never met a human who could resist a scan unless trained by Ultra.

"Alek must be from Ultra." thought Stephen to himself. But Ultra disbanded, he knew. The government shut them down.

He approached Alek to get his assignment. Alek was leaning on the back two legs of his chair. Stephen always knew Alek was cocky. But this time there was an air of danger about him as well. It was like he was ready to spring up and fight even though he looked relaxed.

"Are you OK Jameson," said Alek. "You look like something that the cat dragged in."

Stephen was trying to scan him when he said "cat" an image flashed in his mind. It was Alek, but he differed from his eyes were like cat's eyes and his fingers had long claws coming out of them. Stephen was sure if Alek was imagining himself like this or if this was the real Alek. Stephen looked at Alek again. Alek was still leaning back in his chair with a cocky look on his face. Stephen wanted to knock that smirk off his face. But, instead, he just took his assignment and walked towards Mr. Mulwray's desk.

Stephen looked back and still saw the smirk on Alek's face. He could not help himself. A slight telekinetic kick to the back of the chair's legs would wipe that smirk right off. Stephen was amazed by how Alek stayed on his feet. Stephen was not sure how he did it. Alek not only did not fall but could stay on his feet like a professional gymnast.

Mr. Petrov." said Mr. Mulwray. "How many times have I told you not to lean back in your chair?"

"Sorry Mr. Mulwray," said Alek placing his chair back into its correct position. Stephen just looked at him bewildered by what he saw. Alek took his seat. A girl walked into the classroom. She was a pretty brunette She headed towards Mr. Mulwray and handed him a sheet of paper.

"Hi Ms. Cameron Smith," said Mr. Mulwray. "Welcome to class. Please take any empty seat that is available."

Stephen did a mild surface scan of her. He got absolutely nothing, dumbfounded everyone gave off something, even if they were blocking him. The girl did not give off a barrier or anything for that matter. It was like she did not even have a mind. Ultra must get extremely talented to pull something off like this.

"OK clear your desk, everyone," said Mr. Mulwray. "Pop quiz." There were several loud sighs as kids cleared their desks. "This should be a breeze if you read last night's reading."

Stephen finished his quiz and turn and placed it on Mr. Mulwray's desk. He glanced at the new girl who was reading her book. He would have to figure her out later. Right now, he needed to find out what caused Alek's eyes to change. Mr. Mulwray lectured the class. The bell rang Stephen got up and headed towards the door


	27. Ch02j Sam What is a Kanima

Sam walked in early to Coach Finstock's class. Handed him his schedule. Coach looked at it, then to him.

"You play any sports?" asked Coach looking him up and down.

"I..."

"Maybe track, you are not big enough for football or basketball. You are probably too fragile for lacrosse" said Coach cutting him off. "Baseball I bet you're a baseball player. Yes, that is it."

"I don't play sports," said Sam was taken back by the onslaught of words that came out of Coach's mouth.

"Sure, you do. We need more baseball players. So, you need to train for this upcoming season." Coach continues to say without taking a breath. "You need to eat more to put on a little more weight. I know a guy who might be able to help."

Kids came into class making their way to their desk. Sam was still standing there listening to Coach prattled on about protein powders and pasta to put weight on as if he wants to make the team.

"Where should I sit at?" asked Sam cutting Coach off in mid-sentence.

Coach looked at him as if it surprised him Sam was still there listening to him. "I don't care but, preferably in an empty desk."

Sam took a seat near the back row but not all the way in the back. He knew high school had an unspoken rule on sitting in class. The smart kids set up front. The bad kids in the back. That left the middle for the rest. Sam sat near the back. Where the kids who did not want to be noticed sat at.

Sam watched as the kids came in and take their seats. One of them was a tall guy with dark blonde hair. He looked at Sam with a very cocky look and gave a slight smile then took a seat near the front. To Sam, it looked like he was waiting on someone to come in by the way he kept glancing at the door. Sam saw him smile and turn and face forward.

Sam looked at the door and saw two guys coming in. One had a buzzed-cut haircut. The other had dark hair and looked to be of Hispanic descent. They came in and sat in the seats just ahead of Sam. He could tell that they did not notice him. Sam knew how to not draw attention to himself.

'Sam Goode you know how to be invisible when you want to be,' He thought to himself.

"Dude, I just talked to my dad, who just talked to Jackson, and I've got really terrible, horrible, very, very bad news." he heard the buzzed-cut guy say to the dark hair one.

"I think I already know." said the dark-haired one who was looking at the dark blonde cocky guy that was smiling.

"Ok class settle down." said the Coach. "Open your books to the next chapter. Welcome back Mr. Lahey, please come see me after class so I can give you the material you have missed." So, the cocky dark blond guy was named Lahey.

"All right, I only found one thing online called a kanima." said the one with the buzz-cut. "It's a werejaguar from South America that goes after murderers."

"They must be into video games. But he wasn't sure which game had a kanima in it or what even was a kanima." thought Sam to himself.

"That thing was not a jaguar." said the dark-haired guy.

"Yeah, and I'm not exactly a murderer." said the buzzed-cut guy.

"Yeah, but you saw it kill somebody, which is probably why it tried to kill you." said the dark-haired guy "And it's still trying to kill you, and it probably won't stop until you're dead."

"You know, sometimes I really begin to question this friendship." said buzzed-cut guy as he made quotation marks with his fingers.

Sam smiled at the interactions of these two guys. He could tell that they were good friends by the way they acted towards each other. They seemed to take their video games seriously.

Another guy with short dark hair came in. sat his books on his desk and sat down behind the two other guys. "Hey, testicle left and right. What the hell is a Kanima?" This startled the first two guys they almost knocked over their desk trying to turn around.

"McCall, Jackson, Stilinski is there something wrong." barked Coach.

So, the dark-hair guy was McCall, the buzzed-cut was Stilinski, and the new guy was Jackson. They tried to look innocent but; it wasn't working.

"All right, listen up," said Coach stopping them from answering Jackson's question. "A quick warning before we begin our review. Some of you, like McCall, might want to start their own study groups because tomorrow's midterm is so profoundly difficult. I'm not even too sure I could pass it. Okay, I need a volunteer at the board to answer the first question. Who's got it, huh? Come on, let's go, buddy." as he gave a piece of chalk to a student.

"Something paralyzed me from the neck down," said Jackson to McCall and Stilinski. "Do you have any idea what that feels like?"

"I'm familiar with the sensation," said Stiles something in the way he said it made Sam think they took their video gaming way too seriously.

"Wait," said Scott. "Why would Derek test you? Why would he think that it's you?"

"Derek must be on their team or something." thought Sam trying not to let them know he was listening in on their conversation.

"How should I know?" said Jackson angrily.

"Wait, do they think it's Lydia?" asked Stiles in a desperate plea.

"Must be a cool game to have a female player in their group." thought Sam.

"I don't know, all I heard was her name and something about chemistry," said Jackson emotionally as if this was too much for him to understand.

"Jackson!" yelled Coach. "Do you have something you want to share with the rest of the class?"

"Um, just an undying admiration for my, my coach," said Jackson trying to flatter the coach. Usually, a little brown nosing got Jackson out of trouble with the Coach.

"That's really kind of you," said Coach as Jackson just turned his head and smiled. Thinking to himself 'I still got it.'

"Now shut up!" yelled Coach again. Jackson was a little hurt by losing his leverage over Coach. "Shut it! Anybody else?"

"How do we know it's not her?" said Scott as he pulled Stiles almost out of his chair when the coach had his back turned.

"Because I looked into the eyes of that thing, okay? And what I saw was pure evil. And when I look into Lydia's eyes, I only see 50% evil." said Stiles trying to get back into his chair. "All right, maybe 60. You know, but no more than 40 on a good day."

"Stiles, that's not a very good argument," said Scott.

"I'm aware of that, but I swear it's not her," said Stiles trying to convince himself that it is true. "It can't be, all right? Lydia's fine."

"Lydia." said someone in the distant. Lydia barely heard it. She was completely transfixed on Peter coming towards her. He was knocking over desks. She got up and tried to run but all she could do were to lean against the wall scared out of her mind. Peter kept getting closer and more menacing as he approached. He got up right into her face and held up his hand and blew some dust into her face. She closed her eyes and screamed but the scream was only in her head. When she opened her eyes, she was standing at the chalkboard. She was so confused.

"Okay then, anybody else wants to try answering?" said Coach "This time in English?" Lydia turned around and saw gibberish written on the chalkboard. She did not remember writing anything on the board, much less on how she got up there.

"What is that, Greek?" asked Scott.

"No, actually, I think it is English," said Stiles as he showed Scott his phone with the picture of the chalkboard. He flipped the picture over 180 degrees and the words that Lydia wrote on the chalkboard spelled "Someonehelpme" in block letters.


	28. Ch02k A Cat Listening to Wolves

Chloe hurried to Mr. Harris' class. She wanted to get there early, but she was already running late. 'Why is it whenever I try to get some place early, I am always late,' she said to herself. The bell rang as she entered the room. Mr. Harris just looked at her as she hurried to her seat.

"Einstein once said, "Two things are infinite: The universe and human stupidity; And I'm not sure about the universe," said Mr. Harris. "I, myself have encountered infinite stupidity. So, to combat the plague of ignorance in my class, you're going to combine efforts through a round of group experiments. Let's see if two heads are indeed better than one. Or in Mr. Stilinski's case, less than one. Erica, you take the first station. You'll start with." Most of the boys in the class raised their hands to get Mr. Harris' attention–"I didn't ask for volunteers. Put your hormonal little hands down. Start with Mr. McCall. All right, next two." Scott was one of them that did not raise his hand.

Chloe could not believe how much Erica had changed in the last couple of weeks. She was an awkward teenage girl who had seizures. Now she had come into her own seemingly overnight. She was confident and beautiful. Her hair and make-up were flawless. Chloe really envied her for that. She saw Erica run her hands down Scott's thigh. She thought Scott and Allison was a couple.

"Whatever you're thinking about doing, wait. Give me a chance to talk to Derek." she heard Scott say to Erica.

"Who is Derek and what was He going to do?" thought Chloe to herself. She knew that she should not be listening to their conversation but their emotions coming off them were intense. There were so much desperation and concern coming off Scott. Erica's emotions were not of seduction so much, but more of power. She seemed to enjoy using her new found looks and confidence to tease the boys.

There were some strong emotions coming off Allison. She turned her head slightly to hear her and Lydia talk. The amount of jealousy coming from Allison almost overwhelmed her Mai ability. She noticed that Allison had a superb poker face, with her human eyes she would not even know Allison's was ever dating Scott.

"Never? You never get jealous?" asked Lydia writing in her notebook.

"Why would I?" said Allison.

"Because of that thing happening over there. That requires some jealousy," said Lydia.

Chloe followed where Lydia was alluding too. She saw Erica run her nails, rather long nails, against Scott's thigh. She really needs a manicure thought Chloe.

"You're not my type." she heard Scott say.

"I'm exactly your type," Erica responded.

Chloe could read the emotions coming off Scott because of her empathic abilities as a Mai. She could tell that she was not Scott's type. The emotions coming off Erica made her want to go over there and slap her. Women should not use their looks to manipulate people.

"Switch!" yelled Mr. Harris again. Everyone got up and moved. Chloe's next station was with Allison. She moved to where Lydia was sitting but Allison grabbed Lydia's hand before she got up out of the chair.

"Listen to me, okay? Don't talk to Erica or Isaac." Allison whispered to her. It was loud enough for Chloe to hear.

"Why?" asked Lydia,

"Just don't."

"Let's go, girls. Next station," said Mr. Harris.

"Trust me, all right?" said Allison before Lydia left.

Chloe sat down on the now-vacated seat. She looked at Allison. Allison just gave her a small smile and looked at the assigned lab sheet.

"Is everything OK?" asked Chloe.

"Yes," said Allison with another fake smile as she looked towards Stiles and Isaac table with some concern showing in her eyes.

Chloe looked at the sheet of paper that had the next step for their experiment on it. She glanced over at Stiles and Isaac. Her Mai empathic abilities let her know that Isaac was putting off major alpha male attitude. She could tell that it did not intimidate Stiles at all.

"If you harm one perfect strawberry blonde hair on her head, I'm gonna turn your little werewolf ass into a fur coat and give it to her as a birthday present." She heard Stiles say to Isaac. "Werewolf? did Stiles just call, Isaac a werewolf?" she said to herself. Chloe was now more concerned for Stiles. "He must get a jackal confused with a werewolf." She needed to ask Alek about werewolves.

"Really? I've never actually been to one of her big, invite-only birthday party." She heard Isaac say. "I did ask her out once though."

"Sounds like the beginning to a heartfelt story" She heard Stiles say in response. "I'm gonna pass, thanks."

"It was the first day of freshman year," Isaac says.

"And you thought everything was gonna be different for you in high school, but she said no," she heard Stiles response. Her Mai abilities could tell that Isaac was getting a little ticked off by Stiles smart remarks.

"Yeah. Yeah, she even laughed," Isaac says. "Told me to come back when the bike I rode to school had an engine, not a chain."

"Mm, unrequited love's a bitch, Stiles responses pouring chemicals in the beaker. "Maybe you should write about it in English class, you know? Channel all that negative energy."

"Nah, I was thinking I'd channel it into killing her," Isaac responded. "I'm not very good at writing.

"And switch," said Mr. Harris.

A chill ran up Chloe's back. She knew Isaac was serious about killing Lydia. She looked over at Lydia she was doing the experiment with Allison. She did not realize the danger she was in.

"Aah," Stiles yelped out as Mr. Harris stopped him from running to the next station.

"If you're trying to test my patience, Mr. Stilinski," said Mr. Harris "I guarantee it'll be a failing grade."

Chloe knew something was not right. Something filled the emotions coming from Scott, Allison, and with desperation, concern, and desperation. Erica and Isaac gave off power, aggression, and strength. But it was those emotions were just the side effect of the real emotion they were having. That was of fear.

Chloe sat down at her next station. It worried her that if Isaac was a Jackal would he attack her. She had only met one jackal, and that was Kai. She tried to help him. His father used him as a bait to try to kill her. It nearly cost Alek his life. She tried to concentrate on the next assignment but was too engrossed in what was paying much attention to it. She noticed that it was Erica's turn to sit next to Allison.

'What are you gonna do to her?" said Allison adding the chemical to the beaker.

"Don't you think the better question is what's she going to do to us?" said Erica "I have to say; you guys are cute together. But you know, I've always had this feeling like I'm a little psychic. I just don't think you're going to last."

It took Chloe back by Erica's statement. What could Lydia do? Why was she a threat? If, Isaac was a jackal was Erica one as well. How could Lydia be a threat to them? Things made little sense. 'Ok, Chloe keep it together. We can figure this out.' She thought to herself

"You think you can hurt me by sliding your hand up his thigh?" said Allison.

"Would you like it better if it were your thigh?" said Erica as she ran her hand across Allison's thigh. "Come on. Girl fight in the lab. It'll be hot."

Chloe's Mai empathic abilities were making her head hurt. She could not understand what was going on. She could tell that there was something different with Scott, Isaac, and Eric. They were more supernatural. Allison and Stiles were humans. Lydia was something she could not figure out. She knew that for some reason, Isaac and Erica were afraid of her. When looked at Lydia she could tell that she was oblivious to it.

"Time," Mr. Harris said shaking those thoughts out of her head. "If you've catalyzed the reaction correctly, you should now be looking at a crystal. Now for the part of that last experiment, I'm sure you'll all enjoy - You can eat it."

"Lydia!" Scott yelled across the room. Chloe could tell it terrified him of her eating the crystal.

"What?" Lydia said as she licked the crystal and giving Scott a look that conveyed an attitude. Chloe wished that she could do that. Give a person a look that told someone exactly what you were thinking.

"Nothing," said Scott sitting back down. Chloe noticed that he looked at Erica and Isaac. Then out the window at something. The bell rang. Chloe watched as everyone went out the door. Scott and Stiles chasing after Allison who was trying to act like she did not want to talk to them. But, was making it painfully obvious that she wanted to talk with them. Chloe followed them from a distance she tried to listen to their conversation but there were too many people in the hallway. Making it difficult for her to hear.


	29. Ch02l Eve in Class

Eve was so excited about being in school and around kids her own age. She looked at her schedule and saw she had Technology with Mr. Kilmartin. She hurried up the stairs passing several students. She realized that she might have been going a little too fast, by the way, the students cried out as she passed them. She slowed herself down hoping that she hurt no one and that none of the students saw her do anything that was not humanly possible.

She walked into the classroom. There were students sitting at their desk and more students coming in the room. She saw Mr. Kilmartin standing behind his desk. He was wearing jeans with a white button-up shirt. He had brown hair that hung slightly below his ears and blue eyes. She walked up to him and gave him her schedule. He took it from her and looked at it. Her heart was racing she's never been around a true teacher.

"Hi Miss Corvin," said Mr. Kilmartin smiling at her as he handed her schedule back. "Welcome to technology class. Please have a seat next to Mr. Smith first name John. This is his first time in this class as well."

Eve looked over to where Mr. Kilmartin was pointing and saw the dark-haired boy from the office. There was an empty desk beside him. At each desk, there was a computer on it. She took the schedule back from Mr. Kilmartin and went to go sit down at the desk. She looked around the room. Most of the people she saw looked like something bored them being here. Some were secretly checking their phones.

"Hi, I am Eve Corvin," she said to the boy. She held out her hand to the boy to shake. She knew was how humans greeted each other. "Were you in the office earlier?"

"John," he said as he shook her hand. "Yeah, I was there with my sister. Was that your brother that was with you?"

"No," Eve said. She could not believe a cute boy was talking to her. She felt the heat on her face. She instinctively turned her face from him "That was my uncle David. He wanted to be here with my first day in school."

"Ok everyone put your phones away," said Mr. Kilmartin. " We were going over subnet masking. Anyone wants to tell me what you would see on your browser if you had an IP address of ?"

Eve looked around and notice that no one seemed to be interested in answering Mr. Kilmartin's question. She knew that an IP address of meant that the local computer gave itself its own IP address. It usually meant that you could not get on the internet. finally, someone in the front row raised his hand. Mr. Kilmartin nodded his head towards the student.

"No internet connection." said the student.

"Correct," said Mr. Kilmartin.

A dark-haired girl came into the class. Looked over at Mr. Kilmartin and put her fingertip up to her lip. She seemed to try to pout.

"I am sorry that I am late Mr. Kilmartin," she said. The tone of her voice Eve could tell was not sincere.

"Ms. Chamberlain," said Mr. Kilmartin. "What is the excuse this time?"

"I could not get my locker open," she said with a face that looked all innocent.

"Ms. Chamberlain, I am done dealing with you," said Mr. Kilmartin. "Go to the principal's office."

"I have a note from the janitor," she said handing out the note to him.

Mr. Kilmartin took the note and looked at it. He put the note in his pocket. Ms. Chamberlain eyes widen a little when he did that. Eve could tell she wanted to get the note back.

"Go take your seat," said Mr. Kilmartin to her.

Eve watched as she turned towards the class. Gave a little mischievous smile and walked towards her. She sat down in the seat in front of her. Turned and looked at the John with a real puzzled look on her face.

"Adam?" she said to him. "What happened to your hair and clothes?"

John looked at her strangely and shook his head. Ms. Chamberlain looked at Eve and gave her a nasty look. Eve did not know why. But she wanted to rip her throat out.

"Faye Chamberlain," said Mr. Kilmartin "Leave John and Eve alone."

"Sorry," said Faye turning around.

Eve looked over at John. He looked back at her and gave her a tiny smile. Her heart raced when she saw how beautiful his smile was.

'He is so cute.' thought Eve. She could feel her face turning red. She looked away. Not sure why she did.

"Ok everyone please turn on your computers," said Mr. Kilmartin.

Eve reached down and turned on her system. She watched her computer monitor boot up. She looked over at John again. She saw him slide the lens cover down on his computer before turning his on. She did the same also. She wasn't sure why though.

She looked over at Faye and saw her texting on her phone. She would look back a John several times. Then look back at her phone. Eve could have sworn she took a picture of him without him knowing it.

"Ms. Chamberlain if I see you looking at your phone one more time. I will take it and you will not get it back." Said Mr. Kilmartin.

"Sorry," Faye said as she put her phone in her back pocket.

Mr. Kilmartin lectured the class on subnet masking and how it was important on getting information to the right place. Eve knew about this already uncle David was good at computers. She learned many things on the internet. When she first got to use a computer, she asked over a hundred questions on how it worked. What the internet was, etc...

Mr. Kilmartin continues to talk about the class schedule. How this week was going over the basics. But that he expected each student to have programmed an App. He stated that they would work on teams. Eve hoped that she would be on the same team as John. She was not sure why she like that idea.

The bell rang, and everyone got up to leave. Faye waited before getting up to leave. She walked over to where John was sitting and picked up a piece of his hair. Eve thought that was weird. There was something off about Faye. She did not have time to figure it out. She did not want to be late for her next class.


	30. Ch02m Let's Talk Sports

Declan looked down at his paper. Checked the numbers again and tried the combination. This time he got his locker to open. He put his gym bag in when he heard a voice. He looked three lockers down and saw Kyle had his locker open and putting his stuff in it.

"Hey new guys," said a dark-haired boy. "Do you play any sports?"

"Yes," said Declan as he put his gym bag in his locker, "and the name is Declan."

"Kyle," said Kyle closing his locker.

The dark-haired boy had an athletic build same as the blond guy next to him. The blonde guy was taller. He could tell that the dark hair guy was a typical jock type; loud, opinionated, and confident. He was like that guy once. The blonde guy Declan wasn't sure yet.

"I'm Tyler and this is Matt," said Tyler pointing to the blonde-haired boy standing next to him. "We are both on the football team and looking for new talent."

"I play a little basketball," said Declan. "Football is not my game."

"He led our team to win state last season," said Kyle.

"Hey Tyler, you still trying to find help for your sorry football team." said a dark-blonde haired boy wearing a lacrosse jersey standing two other boys were standing beside him also in lacrosse jerseys. "Hey, new guys if you want a real sport with the trophies and championships come join the lacrosse team. We win state championships."

"Shut up Jackson, the only reason the lacrosse team win is because you only play prep schools. The schools we play don't have the snobbish sport of Lacrosse they have football, a real sport." Tyler practically growled.

Declan could tell the Jackson was also a jock, by the way, that he carried himself. He seemed even cockier than Tyler. The other two were beside him were total 'yes' type guys, he could tell. The type of guys who would follow the leader. They were good at instigating bad behaviors in others and leading them into trouble.

"Doesn't matter we win championships. How many games did the football team win last season, three?" said Jackson causing the boys beside him to snicker. "Don't you have the highest fumble rate on the team?"

"Come over here and I'll show you fumble," said Tyler through clenched teeth. His fist clinched.

"Come on man calm down," said Matt putting his hand on Tyler's shoulder.

Declan could tell that there was a bitter rivalry with the teams in this school. He was not used to that. There was always the friendly bantering between the different teams. There was a sense of camaraderie with fellow athletes. He guessed that this school was not like this.

"Yeah boys you shouldn't fight," said a beautiful blonde girl walking next to a tall dark blonde boy. She walked up to Jackson and looked at him. Declan could tell that Jackson was a little shaken up by the girl. She intimidated him in a way. Jackson did not seem to be the type of guy that could be intimidated easily, especially if it was a girl. He turned a shade paler when the dark blonde boy looked at him and smiled.

"Erica, Isaac!" said a dark-haired boy walking up to the group followed by a skinny boy with brown hair shaved close to his head.

"Oh, hi Scott," said the blonde girl who name Declan surmised was Erica. "Did you come here to save the day again? Afraid your lacrosse buddies are not man enough to take on the football team." Isaac, who was the dark blonde boy snickered at her remark. This made Jackson upset by the look on his face.

"Jackson will need more than Scott McCall and Stiles to beat us," said Tyler leering at Jackson still. More guys appeared standing near Tyler and Matt. Declan figured that they were football players by the way they were sizing up the lacrosse players as if they were ready to fight.

"Oh, I love a good rivalry," Erica said as she walked over to Matt and ran her hand down his chest. All the while looking at Scott. "Nice chest you got there."

Declan thought she was trying to get Scott jealous. He could tell even though he did not know Scott that he was not interested in her. This made her try even harder.

Erica went near Tyler next, she looked at Scott as she placed her hand on Tyler's chest. As soon as she got near him, she wrinkled her nose at him and pulled her hand back quickly, as if he smelled bad. He was sure that Scott and Isaac saw her actions as well. He looked over at them and saw that her actions her not lost on them either, Kyle picked up on it as well. Declan knew he was increasing his sense of smell.

Declan could tell that Kyle noticed something was going on in the beginning. Kyle was not saying much, Declan knew that he was enhancing his body, probably his sense of smell. Declan has seen Kyle do some amazing things. Like, run without getting tired, paint an entire scene from memory with only seeing it for a moment, to even levitating. Kyle can do some amazing things.

Isaac came up behind Tyler and sniffed him. Declan could not believe it. But he could not doubt his own eyes. Isaac had his face near Tyler's neck and shoulder. He wrinkled his nose at the smell. It was the weirdest thing Declan witness. He looked over a Kyle. Yes, Kyle was in his analyzing phase, as Declan like to say. Eyes wide, taking in everything, in total absorption mode.

"Dude get off me," Tyler said pushing Isaac away from him. "What is your problem?"

Isaac just smiled at him in a challenging way. He made a step towards Tyler as if to fight him. Scott was there. Declan did not even see him move. He was right in between Isaac, Erica, and Tyler.

"You don't want a repeat of the ice ring do you," said Scott in an even tone. The way he said it made Isaac and Erica pause for a minute and then back down. A smile was on their faces as they moved away from Tyler.

"Come on Isaac," said Erica. "Let us go." Isaac turned and walked away with Erica. Before he made it through the mass of people that had gathered to see a possible fight. He made sure to ram his shoulder into Kyle's shoulder in a total jerk move. Isaac shoved Kyle so hard it made him fall into the lockers behind him. Declan took a step forward to support his friend.

"Are you Ok?" asked Scott as he again seemed to appear out of nowhere.

"Yes," said Kyle. He looked over where Isaac and Erica were walking. He saw Isaac trip over his own feet. Declan knew Kyle used his telekinesis to do it. It surprised him when Isaac stayed on his feet and did not fall.

"Dude do I smell bad or something?" asked Tyler smelling each of his pits.

"You smell like a loser," said Jackson.

Tyler slipped from Matt's grasp and charged toward Jackson. Scott was there in an instant and held him back. Scott also wrinkled his nose when he was near Tyler. Jackson ran towards Tyler, but his two buddies restrained him.

"We have more pressing things to deal with than this," said Stiles looking at Jackson.

Whatever Stiles meant influenced Jackson. He looked down the hallway where Isaac and Erica went. He shrugged off the hands that were holding onto him and turned and walked away.

"Yeah, you better start walking," yelled Tyler.

Jackson gave him the one-finger salute as he walked down the hallway.

"Come on, let's go," said Matt pulling Tyler away from Scott as the bell rang.

"Nice to meet you," said Scott to Declan and Kyle but we must get to class. Declan watched as he and Stiles ran down the hallway where Isaac and Erica went.

"That was weird," said Declan to Kyle.

"Yes, it was." Kyle as he walked with Declan to their class.


	31. Ch02n Zach Bring a Camera

Claire opened her school's locker and pulled out her textbook. The incident that happened last night with the knife and her thoughts about it still weighed heavily on her mind. She looked at her phone before she put it into her locker. It relieved her Zach got her message last night and brought his camera with him today.

"Don't forget we have practice after school," said Jackie walking up to her.

"Yeah, I'll be there but I cannot stay too late," said Claire. "I have some stuff that I need to do."

"You need to be there. You have missed several practices over the summer," said Jackie. "It is like you are not taking this seriously."

"I am. I'm just..." said Claire. But Jackie cut her off.

"Good, see you after school. You need the practice plus we are going over a new routine I have come up with."

Claire watched Jackie leave. She rolled her eyes and closed her locker.

"Oh, hi," she said as she turned around right into Zach.

"Is she always like that?" asked Zach.

"Like what?"

"A bitch," said Zach. "A blonde-bimbo bitch."

"Yes," said Claire laughing. "So, you have everything?"

"Yes, why do you need my good camera?" asked Zach running his fingers through his short brown hair.

"I'll explain later," said Claire. "But can you meet me after cheerleading practice?"

"I don't know. I really don't fit in with your crowd," said Zach.

"Please, it will be fun," said Claire grabbing Zach's arm and making him walk down the hall with her.

"I don't see how hanging out with a bunch of cheerleaders, would be fun." said a reluctant Zach.

"Come on, most guys would kill for a chance to hang out with a bunch of cheerleaders," said Claire.

Claire looked at Zach and regretted saying that. She knew how sensitive Zach could be when compared with other guys. Zach was still in an awkward stage on who he wanted to be. She suspected that he might be gay. He had not come to realize that in himself. She could be wrong but either way, he would still be Zach to her. A true friend, not a fake one like most of the girls on the cheerleading team.

She had to admit that some girls were nice and were real people. They did not like to start drama. But over half of them were total drama queens or sluts, some were both. She enjoyed cheer she admitted to herself. She liked how people noticed her. Teachers were more likely to cut her some slack on homework.

"Tell you what," said Claire trying to salvage the slight she caused. "Why don't you sit on the bleachers. I will wave and say hi to you. I will even thank you for your help."

"I don't know," said Zach hesitantly.

"Come on." pleaded Claire. "All the guys will be jealous that a cheerleader spoke to you." "Plus, the girls will wonder what you did for me."

"Well, I guess since I did bring my camera." said Zach smiling, "But, I am not filming cheerleading videos."

"Thanks," said Claire as she walked towards her class. "You are the best."

Claire was lost in her thoughts as she walked down the hallway to her class. She wanted to know what was going on with her. How was she able to heal so quickly? She looked up stuff on the internet. There were several theories that included her being a mutant or her being an alien. There had to be a better explanation.

She turned the corner and saw Brodie. She smiled. He had a special charisma about him that made Claire think of other things. She saw him and another football player holding back Tyler. He looked like he would kill Jackson. Everyone knew there was no love lost between the football team and the lacrosse team.

"Yeah boys you shouldn't fight," said Erica. Claire could not believe the change in Erica. She was normally an outcast according to the social structure of the school. Claire never made fun of her she was not that type of person. Now Erica was one of the hot chicks. She gave off this bad sexy girl persona. The change happened after Erica had an epileptic seizure during gym class. She looked amazing. Claire remembered that someone posted a video of her having a seizure it was not pretty. She got bullied so bad by that. Claire was happy that she seemed to be doing better and taking charge of her life.

Claire watched as she walked up to Jackson. Jackson was a hottie, but he was a total jerk. Most girls wanted to date him because he was rich, he drove a Porsche, and his dad was a prominent lawyer in the city. Claire just thought of him as a snake in the grass. She could not understand how Lydia could date him. She had to smile a little. She saw that Erica intimidated Jackson. She saw that it also worried him about Isaac the way he looked at him.

"Erica, Isaac!" said Scott McCall with Stiles coming to stand right beside him. The way Scott said their names it was with authority like a dad calling his children.

"Oh, hi Scott," said Erica. "Did you come here to save the day again afraid your lacrosse buddies are not man enough to take on the football team." She saw several lacrosse players get upset by that remark.

"Jackson will need more than Scott McCall and Stiles to beat us," said Tyler leering at Jackson.

"I walked into a testosterone pissing contest' thought Claire to herself. 'Why do guys always want to test each other. They do realize that this is only sports. Men were so frustrating."

"Oh, I love a good rivalry," Erica said as she walked over to Matt who was also on the football team. Matt was a sweetie. He had a rough family life Claire knew. His sister was wild and always ready to party. She was into drugs. Everyone knew except Matt, and his mom was always away. She believed that his father died when he was young. He worked at the Mystic Grill to help pay for things. She watched as Erica ran her hand down his chest. All the while looking at Scott.

"Nice chest you got there," Erica said seductively.

'Could she be any more of a tease.' Claire thought to herself. She understood that every girl likes the thought of two guys fighting over them. But this was faked, and Claire could tell that she was only doing it to start trouble.

Erica went over to Tyler next. Claire knew she was just trying to get the boys to fight. Scott looked angry for a second when she did. Did Scott like Erica? She did not think so. She thought Scott was with Allison. As soon as Erica was near Tyler. She wrinkled her nose as if she smelled something off about him. She could not believe Isaac came up to Tyler and sniffed him. It was the weirdest thing she saw so far this day. Why would Isaac sniff him?

"Dude get off me," Tyler said pushing Isaac away from him. "What is your problem?"

Isaac was pushed back by Tyler. He had a smile on his face as he stepped towards Tyler again. The smile was predatory. His eyes looked like they wanted to kill. Claire realizes that this just got serious. She looked over a Brodie. The rest of the team seemed to sense that there was a fight about to happen. She knew that the football team would back Tyler and Matt. She suspected that the lacrosse players would do the same for Jackson and Scott.

"You don't want a repeat of the ice ring do you," said Scott in an even tone. Scott had an air of authority about him. Claire did not know Scott well, but she could tell that he was serious. In the way, he said that statement. Now she wanted to know what happened at the ice rink.

"Come on Isaac," said Erica. "Let us go." They turned and left. Isaac pushed someone into a locker as he was leaving.

Claire watched as people moved out of their way as they left. She did not realize how much of a jerk Isaac could be; He had recently changed as well. He used to be shy and a loner. Now he had confidence and an attitude.

"Dude do I smell bad or something?" asked Tyler smelling each of his pits.

"You smell like a loser," said Jackson. Some lacrosse players laughed at the remark.

Tyler slipped from Matt's grasp and charged toward Jackson. Before he got there Scott was there. Standing in between them. Scott also wrinkled his nose when he was near Tyler. Jackson ran towards Tyler, but his two buddies restrained him.

"We have more pressing things to deal with than this," said Stiles looking at Jackson while walking behind Scott and in between Tyler and Jackson.

Whatever Stiles meant affected Jackson. His mood changed and the tension in the room went down. He shrugged the hands from him and turned and walked away.

"Yeah, you better start walking," yelled Tyler.

'Really, he can be such a jerk at times,' Claire thought to herself. Luckily Jackson's only response was to give him the one-finger salute as he walked down the hallway. The lacrosse players with him.

"Hey, is everything ok?" she asked Brodie as she walked up to him.

"Yeah, just guy stuff," he said giving her a big smile. His smiles could light up a room. "Nothing to worry about. We still on for this weekend?"

"I don't know," she said. "I am not sure if my dad will let me go."

"Please, Claire. It will be fun," Brodie said as he put his arm around her shoulder. "Everyone will be there. It is a tradition."

"I will try my best to be there," she said as she got up on her tippy-toes to kiss his cheek. She hurried and turned from him running to her next class. Before he could process what just happen. 'Erica was not the only girl who could tease a boy.' She thought to herself


	32. Ch02o Rivalry

After class Scott followed Isaac out the door. Stiles was right behind him. He needed to talk to Isaac or Erica to find out Derek's plans. He knew Derek was planning on killing the Kanima. He wanted to save the person. There had to be a better way than just killing him. Scott figured that Derek was afraid of it. Scott remembered how it was when he first changed. He could not control his actions. He woke up several times naked in the woods have no memory of what happened the night before. Perhaps, the same thing was happening to the Kanima person.

"Scott!" yelled coach breaking him out of his train of thought and stopping him and Stiles before they could get out the door.

"Yes, coach, said Scott as he turned around.

"Do you want to be on the lacrosse team?" asked the coach.

"Yes," Scott replied. He really enjoyed the game. He was captain, well co-captain. He had a hot girlfriend. Kids were looking up to him. Of course, he wanted to play on the team.

"Then get your grades up," said the coach. "Or else you will be benched."

"What?!" pleaded Scott.

"It is not my choice," said the coach. "Something about school policy." The coach mumbled the last part to himself. If Scott did not have werewolf hearing, he would have missed it.

"I will," said Scott.

"I will help him," offered Stiles

"You better," yelled coach. "Now get to class."

Scott and Stiles ran out of the classroom. Scott picking up Isaac's scent as he went. Scott increased his pace a little as he weaved in between kids on their way to their classes.

"Hey, slow down," said Stiles trying to keep up. "Some of us don't have the enhancements that others have."

"Sorry," Scott said as he turned the corner. He saw Erica was in between Jackson and Tyler. It looked like she was breaking up a fight or trying to start one.

"Yea, boys you shouldn't fight," said Erica as she walked up to Jackson and looked at him. There were two new kids that Scott did not know was standing in between the Lacrosse team and the football team. Scott could smell the fear coming from Jackson when Erica came near him.

"Erica, Isaac!" said Scott.

"Oh, hi Scott," said Erica. "Did you come here to save the day again. Afraid your lacrosse buddies are not man enough to take on the football team." Scott heard Isaac snicker at her remark.

"Jackson going to need more than Scott McCall and Stiles to beat us," said Tyler leering at Jackson still.

"Oh, I love a good rivalry," Erica said as she walked over to Matt Donovan and ran her hand down his chest. All the while looking at Scott. "Nice chest you got there."

Scott knew she was just trying to get a rise out of him. Scott was disappointed with her. Before she got the "bite" she was a quiet girl that did not have many friends. She was shy and socially awkward. The bite changed her. Now she was more of a vixen. Someone could say the same about Isaac. He was also a loner, shy and socially awkward. Scott heard a rumor that his father abused him a lot, since his brother died, and his mom left.

Scott remembered how the bite had changed him. He had asthma and always had an inhaler on him. He was clumsy and awkward as well. The bite gave him confidence and strength. He was surer of himself and what he could do. He remembered he got a little arrogant as well. Thankfully, after some time he came back to being himself. Hopefully, Erica and Isaac would also go back to be their selves too.

Erica went near Tyler next. All the while looking at Scott, she was trying so hard to get his pulse rate up. Scott was not into her. All he had to do was think of Allison and everything she was trying to do went away. Scott watched as she placed her hand on Tyler's chest. She came closer as if she would kiss him. She suddenly wrinkled her nose at him and pulled her hand back quickly. Scott saw it as well. He took in a good sniff from where he was. He did it in such a way so it was not obvious of what he was doing. He was sure Stiles, Erica, and Isaac knew he had done it. He could only smell Isaac and Erica as being werewolves.

Isaac came up behind Tyler and sniffed him. He was not subtle at all. Isaac had his face near Tyler's neck and shoulder. He wrinkled his nose at the smell. Scott knew he smelt something. Scott could smell nothing from where he was. He looked over at Stiles he could tell that his mind was already thinking Tyler Lockwood might be the kanima.

"Dude get off me," Tyler said pushing Isaac away from him. "What is your problem?"

Isaac just smiled at him in a challenging way. He made a step towards Tyler as if to fight him. Scott was there. He did not need a supernatural fight to break out in the hallway. Scott got right in the face of Isaac and Erica. He knew only they could see him. He flashed his eyes at them to let them know he meant business.

"You don't want a repeat of the ice ring do you," said Scott in an even tone trying his best to sound like an Alpha. It must have worked they moved away from Tyler, but they kept a smirk on their faces letting Scott know this was not over.

"Come on Isaac," said Erica. "Let us go." Isaac turned and walked away as he did, he rammed his shoulder into another guy who was standing by a locker. Scott saw that Isaac used some of his werewolf strength to do it. Isaac shoved the guy so hard it made him fall into the lockers behind him.

"Are you Ok?" asked Scott to the dark hair guy with blue eyes. His friend was beside him helping him up.

"Yes," said the guy as his friend helped him off the floor. He looked over where Isaac and Erica were walking. He saw Isaac trip over his own feet. Scott did not understand why or how Isaac tripped. It was not natural.

"Dude do I smell bad or something?" asked Tyler smelling each of his pits.

"You smell like a loser," said Jackson. Scott saw Tyler break free from Matt's grasp and charged Jackson. Scott rushed over in between them. He used a bit of werewolf speed to get there. He was now a little closer to Tyler now. Tyler scent was pungent is the only word that Scott could think of. He could smell Tyler's soap and deodorant. The pungent smell was just underneath all his other scents. The longer Scott stayed near Tyler the more the scent faded. Which Scott found strange. Scott could hear Jackson trying to run towards them. He knew his fellow teammates would hold him back.

"We have more pressing things to deal with than this," said Stiles looking at Jackson. Scott got the meaning so did Jackson.

Jackson walked with the rest of the lacrosse team. The hallway was filled with football players and lacrosse players. He knew that there would probably be a fight later between the two teams. There was so much rivalry between them. Scott did not want to get in a fight. Not that he was afraid of fighting or that he did not want to support his teammates. No, now he could seriously hurt someone.

"Yeah, you better start walking," yelled Tyler.

Jackson gave him the one-finger salute as he walked down the hallway. Scott looked back at Matt he knew Matt was a good guy. He could tell that it embarrassed him that is buddy was acting like this. He gave Scott a slight nod to let him know he could take it from here.

"Come on, let's go," said Matt pulling Tyler away from Scott as the bell rang.

"Nice to meet you," said Scott to the two new guys. "I am Scott, and this is Stiles."

"Declan and Kyle," said Declan.

Scott nodded his head to each of them. "Sorry, have to go see if I can keep them out of trouble," he said as he turned and ran to where Isaac and Erica had gone. He stopped when he got halfway down the hallway. Stiles running into the back of him.

"They are gone," said Scott.

"Yeah, nice little trick," said Stiles. "Using two hyped of jocks to throw us off their trail."

"Let's get to class," said Scott. "We will find them later."


	33. Ch02p Warlocks on a Plane

Reid sat down next to the window seat in the third row of the first-class section of the plane. He looked out the window and saw a symphony of chaos on the airfield. He watched as a plane next to them pulled into its gate. He saw a man motioned for the plane to stop on the painted spot on the tarmac. Behind him, a flat truck pulling three carts behind it drove under the plane and three men got out and threw luggage onto the carts. Reid thought it would be so easy to use just a little bit of the Power and push over one of the carts or at least make one of the over stuff luggage to burst open and spill its contents on to the runway.

Tyler plopped next to him breaking him out of his plot to make mischief. He glared at Tyler who just looked back at him with a "What is your problem" look. Reid ignored him and put his headphones into his ears and turned towards the window again. The men had finished unloading the luggage from the plane. They got into the flat truck and drove away. 'So much for some fun' thought Reid.

Truth be told to himself he did not really want to do that. His younger self would have been glad to play pranks like that. He did it now mainly to aggravate Caleb and piss off Pogue. They acted like older brothers to him and Tyler all the time. In reality, Reid knew Caleb only acted like that when he used too much of the power. He knew Caleb, Pogue, and Tyler were his best friends. He just did not like the feeling that it was always him that was the troublemaker or the hot-headed one of their group.

The plane he was on finally pulled away from the gate. The stewardess was an older lady. She must have been pretty at one time. Reid just thought she was an old lady trying to hold on to her fading looks. He barely gave her a glance when she went through her demonstration on plane safety. He looked around and saw Caleb and Sarah in the row ahead and across from him. She was trying to buckle her safety belt. But was having trouble. He watched as Caleb helped her in buckling it. He was slightly jealous of Caleb, but he was also happy for him. He would never tell Caleb that.

He finished his meal or what the airline called a meal. He called it a snack. Tyler had finished his also and already had his seat back and eyes closed, trying to get some shut-eye before they landed. Reid did the same. He tilted his seat back as far as it would go which was not far even for first class. He put his earbuds in his ears again and closed his eyes.

Sleep was not coming easily to him. His mind would not calm down. The music he was listening to was not distracting his mind at all. He looked over at Tyler who was sleeping, and he looked peaceful too. He was a little upset about that. Tyler always slept like a baby and he was envious of that now.

Reid turned his head away from Tyler and out the window of the plane. The moon's light was casting shadows on the tops of the clouds as the plane flew over them. The shadows had a mesmerizing effect. He could not take his eyes off them. They took shapes of people and creatures. He saw things he could not make sense of. The shadow shapes kept changing faster and faster as they shifted from human, wolves, bats, glowing eyes, and blood. Ever faster the shadows came. Creatures with six legs, giant robots, and spiders came next. A sense of dread was building with each change of the shape.

"Reid, Reid," said Tyler. "Wake up we are landing."

"Uh... what?" said Reid trying to shake the images out of his head.

"We landed," said Tyler getting his backpack from the overhead compartment.

Reid pulled out his earbuds and stuffed them into his backpack. Stood up and stretched. Still trying to shake the images from his head. He looked over at Caleb who was giving him the 'are you ok' look. He just shrugged and put on his backpack. Caleb just looked away, but he knew that Caleb suspected that something was up. Reid got the rest of his gear and headed off the airplane.

"Gorman should have everything set up," said Caleb pulling his and Sarah's luggage behind him. "You ok?"

"Yes," said Reid trying to hide his emotions from Caleb. He was always the protector. Reid did not know what the shadow shapes meant. He would not get into a conversation with Caleb right now on what he saw. He knew he would just get upset. Then that would upset Caleb. Then Pogue would get involved and try to make peace but would make it seem like Caleb's way was the right way. Then Tyler would try to come to his defense. Just like he did at Nicky's Bar.

"I have to go to the John," Reid said as he turned away from his friends leaving his luggage with them.

Reid entered the men's room. Looking around and thankful that no one else was in here with him. He went to the sink and ran his hands under the water splashing it on his face. The sense of dread still hung on the back of his mind. He could not shake the feeling that something had changed, the power running through him was trying to tell him something.

He looked at himself in the mirror. He looked tired; He did not like that look on him. He splashed more water on his face trying to wash away the look of fear in his eyes. He knew he was not fearful for himself but for his friends and family. He might not have a good relationship with his parents. His father died because of the Power. His mother was rich and married to a man half her age. He wished that he could talk with his father right now.

A man walked into the restroom and broke Reid out of his wishful thinking. Reid pulled paper towels from the dispenser and dried his hand and face. He met up with the others at the rental car place. Loaded his luggage in the SUV and stuck his earbuds in. Ignoring the looks that everyone was giving him.


	34. Ch03 Lunchtime

**CH03 Lunchtime**

**A/N**

**I know that things are still jumping around. But, please remember to look at this as a soap opera or TV show with many characters. Hopefully, I can get them all in one plot and move forward from there, but it will take a while. I do not have a Beta reader so if you see any mistakes let me know.**

**Feedback is welcome. Would like to know if you think this is boring, hard to follow, or ok. **

**Thanks**

**Here is the list of fandoms in the following scenes.**

**Ch03a Secret Circle, Underworld**

**Ch03b Twilight**

**Ch03c Vampire Diaries, Roswell, Nine Lives of Chloe King**

**Ch03d Animorphs, Twilight**

**Ch03e Kyle XY, Twilight**

**Ch03f I Am Number Four, Twilight**

**Ch03g Tomorrow People, Teen Wolf, Twilight**

**Ch03h Roswell, Heroes, Twilight**

**Ch03i Terminator, I Am Number Four, Twilight**

**Ch03j Twilight and almost everyone**

**Ch03k Teen Wolf, Twilight**

**Ch03l Vampire Diaries, Twilight**

**Ch03m Runaways, Secret Circle, Nine Lives of Chloe King**

**Ch03n Nine Lives of Chloe King, Tomorrow People**


	35. Ch03a Jake and the Hunters

Jake and the Hunters

Jake walked away from his friends, He needed to find Isaac. He got into his car and drove off school grounds. He was not sure where Isaac was. But that was about to change. He pulled his car over and reached in his glove compartment and pulled out a map of the city. Since Isaac had marked him. It should be easy for him to find him. He pulled out his map and cut his hand. He winced at the pain. He dripped a drop of blood onto the map.

"Cibe ait tu air an aimsir fhaistineach tusa." he said. He pulled out a piece of cloth and wrapped his hand as he watched the drop of blood move around on the map. The drop of blood stopped on a spot on the map and disappeared.

"Figures, he would be there," said Jake aloud to himself.

Jake pulled his car up to an old building in downtown Beacon Hills. It was a two-story beige color nondescript type square building. There was a well-worn brown door with two windows that framed each side. Jake pulled his car into a half-full parking lot. He parked beside Isaac's big black SUV.

As Jake approached the building, he could tell that it was a hunter's owned business. There were too many clichés running through his head about the hunter's owning a gun store and firing-range. He approached the door. He could see the faint mark of a rune. It was the type rune that would alert someone in the back if a supernatural being was coming in.

'_Great they got a supernatural doorbell,'_ he thought to himself.

He opened the door and went in. There were display cases of various guns in them. There was a middle age man with a salt and pepper beard and black hair behind one of the display cases. He was putting away ear muffs.

"I will be with you in a moment," he said as he put the ear muffs in their box, and he bent over to put them in a drawer below the display case.

"So, what can I do for you," said the man still putting away the ear muffs.

"Is Isaac here?" asked Jake.

"Who wants to know," said a voice behind him. Jake felt the barrel of a gun on the base of his head. The man that was putting away the ear muffs stood up with another gun pointed at him.

Jake was about to speak, "Don't say another word." said the man behind him. Then a searing pain and he blacked out. When Jake awoke, he found himself tied to a wooden chair. A chair made from mountain ash. He was sure that there was a sigil carved underneath as well. Someone stuffed a dirty sock in his mouth. Jake shook his head trying to clear the fog away.

"So, what do you want with Isaac... witch," asked a man and laugh. "I thought they called male witches warlocks. Isn't that right Jorge?"

When the fog cleared from his brain. Jake could see a man in his late twenties. He had a military-style haircut. Dressed in all black. His shirt looked like it was a size too small. He looked like he wore it to show off his muscles which were bulging all over.

'_This guy must be on steroids. He was a total tool,'_ Jake thought to himself. He was probably some high up hunter's nephew. Trying to prove himself to other hunters he is just not here because of his uncle.

"I think that is what they call them," said Jorge.

Jake looked at the man called Jorge. He was a small Spanish man probably in his thirties standing beside a desk. He had his hair cut short and product in his hair that made his hair slick back. He had a well-groomed beard and mustache. Jake could tell that this man was much deadlier than the other tool. The desk had stacks of papers on it, a computer's monitor, and some other office junk on top. There was a magical object on the desk but, Jake was not sure what it was.

"So, does that mean you are one of those transgender warlocks." said the tool as he laughs. "I bet that he sits around and makes flowers change colors."

"Good one. Mitch," said Jorge not taking his eyes from Jake.

"Well, do you sit around and use your magic to change the colors of flowers," said Mitch.

Jake just looked at him. he pointed the gun at Jake's head and asked again.

"Well do you WITCH, sit around and change colors of flowers," said Mitch putting the gun towards his temple and pressing on it. Jake knew gun safety was still on.

"What the hell is going on here," said a loud voice. Jake at once knew the voice. It was Isaac.

"Sir," said Mitch standing to attention. "This witch set off the Rune. So, we captured him."

"Did he kill someone?" asked Isaac.

"Not that I know of," said Mitch.

"Did he come in here and cast a spell or put a hex on you or Jorge?" asked Isaac.

"No," stated Mitch. "He came in here and asked for you."

"And..." said Isaac.

"But he set off the alarm. So, I thought that he must have..." said Mitch.

"You did not think," said Isaac cutting him off. "If you were thinking. You would have known that he could have torched everyone in this place if he wanted too. He did not have to come in and ask for me. Now release him."

Mitch fumbled with his knife as he tried to cut the ropes off him. Jake was glad when his hands were free, he could finally remove the sock out of his mouth. He stood up and looked at Isaac.

"What do you want Jake?" asked Isaac.

"I need to talk with you," said Jake. "Privately," looking at Jorge.

"Ok get out," Isaac said aloud.

"Before you go," Jake said to Mitch touching his shoulder. Jake mumbled the spell under his breath. "I think this color suits you better." Jake turned his black shirt a dazzling pink.

"Call me sometime sweetheart," Jake said to Mitch loud enough for everyone to hear. Mitch looked at his shirt and was ready to fight. He was hot. Jorge just pulled him out of the room. Jake just winked at him which made Mitch even angrier.

"Why did you stop by, Jake?" asked Isaac.

"There is something coming," said Jake.

"What do you mean something is coming?" asked Isaac.

"Look I am not sure. We had this dream or vision," said Jake.

"Ok... so," said Isaac.

"Look all the circle had the same dream at the same time," said Jake.

"Ok and," said Isaac.

"This dream woke us all up at the same time. It was more like a premonition than a dream," said Jake. Isaac just looked at him. "Do you know if any of the other circles are having any dreams?"

Isaac looked at him for a moment. Jake knew Isaac was weighing whether to tell him something. Isaac always knew more than he leads on.

"Come on," said Jake. "You know something."

Jake looked at Isaac's face and he noticed that Isaac went into his poker face. Isaac just looked at him. Jake could tell he knew something the eyes always gave it away. Isaac averted his eyes and went to go sit down behind the desk. He looked at something on the desk which seemed to glow and make a humming sound. Jake could not see it but could feel the magic essence coming from it.

"What is that?" asked Jake.

"Shouldn't you be in school," stated Isaac.

"What is going on?" asked Jake.

"Sir," said Jorge poking his head through the door.

"What," said Isaac.

"There are some… "people' here to see you," said Jorge.

How he put the emphasis on "people" piqued Jake's curiosity. Isaac got up and headed towards the door. Checking to make sure that his gun was in its holster.

"Stay here," he said to Jake.

Jake watched as Isaac left. He waited all about five seconds and went out of the door. He walked down a narrow hallway that was dimly lit. He turned right; he ran into Isaac as he was opening a door that went into the room that Jake got ambushed in. Jake could tell by the display cases.

"I told you to stay," said Isaac.

"Yeah," said Jake. "I figured we were done."

Isaac gave him one of those "We will talk later" looks. He looked at Jorge then turned and walk through the door. Jake followed Jorge out the door. He noticed that Jorge had a very large gun stuffed into his back holster. Jake knew he was not wearing it when he was in the room with him earlier. The door led to the front room where he first entered the building. The same room where Mitch AKA "Mr. Tool" knocked him out. Isaac walked behind the gun display counter. On the other side of the gun's display counter was a woman and a man. The woman was extremely sexy with her dark hair and fair skin. She was wearing a tight pair of black pants and a tight button-up shirt. Her outfit was not too provocative. Jake could tell she must be used too wearing tighter fitting clothes. The man was handsome in Jake's opinion as well. He had dark blonde hair and the same fair skin tone as the female.

"Hi, I am Chris Argent," said Isaac. "How can I help you."

So that was Isaac's first name thought Jake to himself. It was very useful to know the full name of someone when you were a witch. Isaac or Chris whatever name he chooses to use. He might have rescued Jake from the coven that was holding him hostage. They barely had any power. Once they found out that Jake could do real magic. They manipulated and used him. They used him to mainly steal for them. If he did not help them, they would beat or starve him. One day they decided to rob a convenience store. That store just happens to be owned by Isaac's family.

When they found out that a witch was involved, they hunted down the thieves and slaughter them. Once Isaac realized that the witch, they were using was only a child. Instead of killing him. Isaac took him under his wing and somewhat trained him. Jake knew that Isaac was using him to hunt down other witches so that the hunters could kill them. At first, Jake did not mind. The witches that used him were terrible. He thought all witches were like that.

As he grew, he got more rebellious. He did not want to hunt anymore. He thought that Isaac would try and make him stay and use him so more. But, he didn't. He helped Jake get settled and start making a life for himself. He still would need him to help them out and Jake would contribute to them as best he could.

Jake headed towards the door. He looked again at the woman. She turned and looked at him. She was very attractive. When their eyes met. Visions started to come to Jake. They were the same ones from the dream he had earlier. The images kept coming to his mind. One that seemed to keep coming was of a huge beast with glowing silver eyes.

Jake went out the door as fast as he could. He did not know what was happening to him. He vomited in the parking lot before getting in his car. He grabbed a bottle of water and rinsed his mouth out before starting the car and driving away. He needs time to think.


	36. Ch03b Vampires in the Office

**Vampires in the Office**

Edward looked at Bella and smiled. She was so beautiful to him. She looked back at him and smiled as well. Edward looked in the rear-view mirror and saw his beautiful daughter and Jacob in the back seat. They were looking out their respective windows. Edward could read their minds if he wanted to, but he tried to give them privacy. The look on their faces told him they were nervous and excited at the same time.

They pulled into the school's parking lot and got out of the Volvo. Alice and Jasper were just pulling up. Rosalie and Emmett were standing next to Esme on the steps at the entrance of the school. They were all dressed in the latest trends, Alice made sure of that. Speaking of Alice, she was fussing over Renesmee's outfit and making a slight adjustment to it. She looked at Jacob and gave him a disapproving look. Jacob was the only one who picked out his own clothes and judging by the smirk on his face, he did it mainly to get under Alice's skin.

Seth and Leah arrived next. Leah was driving a new SUV that had room for seven. Carlisle had gotten it for her. She could not believe he gave it to her. She had no one give her something so expensive in her life. Carlisle told her he knew she wanted to be there to help Jacob and the pack protect Renesmee. But, if she or any of the pack members ever got homesick or if they wanted to go back to Forks Washington to visit family or friends. The SUV would be large enough to carry most of the pack. She loved the vehicle it had aggressive styling. Even though it was big enough to hold them all. She did not feel like she was driving a 'soccer mom's' car.

"Ok everyone, do you remember the back story?" said Esme looking at Renesmee and the wolves mainly.

"Yes," said Jacob. Renesmee just nodded her head. Her dark hair framing her face. The others let Esme know they had remembered.

Esme turned and walked into the school. Everyone else just followed. Upon entering the school, they all took a big breath in. Their sense of smell was so keen they could pick up the subtle differences in the atmosphere in the school. The scent had the normal smells mainly that of hormonal teenagers. There was something different in the air. A faint scent of a supernatural aroma mixed in. It was a scent they have been smelling ever since they came to Beacon Hills. Here in the school, the scent was slightly more noticeable.

Esme briefly stopped walking when she picked up the scent and looked at Alice to see if she was getting anything. Alice just kept on walking towards the office and opened the door for everyone. Upon walking in Edward could see that it was a very typical high school office. There was a red-hair lady looking at a computer screen. She did not look at them when they came in.

"Please sign the check-in sheet and I will be with you in a minute," she said. Edward could read her thoughts. She was engrossed in her work. _'Eichen house is not making this easy on me today. Three new releases and I need to ease them back into society'_ she thought to herself.

She stopped looking at the computer and got up and went to the counter. She still had not looked at them. She looked at the check-in sheet and finally looked at everyone. _'More supernatural ones,'_ she thought to herself. Her thoughts took Edward back. Normally, the first thoughts that humans had were how pretty he or a member of his family was.

"Cullen," she said.

"Hi, I am Esme Cullen," said Esme to the lady. "I must apologize for getting the kids here late. We moved here over the weekend and we lost power at our house. The back-up batteries in the alarm clock were dead and needed to be replaced with new ones. So, we all overslept this morning."

"That is ok. The first day of school is mainly about the kids knowing where their classes are and getting settled in." said the lady. "I believe I have all of your schedules already."

"That is great. It worried me that the last school that the kids attended did not send over their transcript," said Esme. "My husband is a doctor and we move a lot and sometimes schools don't always forward everything."

"Oh, no I got everything. You have some very smart kids." said the lady. "Almost all of them are in advance or gifted classes."

"Before we adopted them. We knew they were smart," said Esme. The lady just smiled at her and went to her desk. She took a folder out of the holder on her desk. She opened it up and went through the papers in it. She kept pulling out papers and laying them on the desk. Once she had all the papers, she needed she put her folder back in the holder. She walked back to the counter.

"Thank you, Ms. ..." said Esme. But the lady was already at her desk looking at her computer screen completely lost in thought and did not hear Esme or the rest of the Cullen's leave. The group headed out of the office. It concerned Edward about the red-hair lady and what she knew.

"Are you ok?" asked Jasper.

"Yes," said Edward looking around the hallway to make sure no one else was around.

"She knows of the supernatural," Edward said so quietly that you had to be a supernatural creature to hear him.

The others looked at him. It concerned that somehow the Volturi would find out and come and attack them again. This time they knew Aro would come with enough force to wipe them out.

"What?" said Seth he was usually the one to read the vampires mood.

"Everything will be fine today," said Alice.

"Ok," said Esme. "I will meet everyone back at the house." She gave each a quick hug before heading out the door. She even hugged the wolves. Jacob hugged back; Jasper could feel that when Esme embraced Seth it released more tension from the young wolf. When Esme hugged Leah, she was stiff as a board. Her body language scream she did not like this. But her emotions whispered that she needed it and wanted it. Jasper knew that Esme was getting to her. Esme was a natural mother to all of them.

"Remember, everyone will look at us," said Jasper. "We want them to see us. I will make them feel calm around us."

"What about the supernatural ones?" asked Leah.

"We went over this," said Rosalie. "Trust Alice's vision."

"But…." Said Leah.

"No, buts," said Rosalie as she walked towards the cafeteria. The others followed. Jasper could tell that the wolves were nervous about their first time in a public school. He released a little bit more of calmness and confidence for them to feel. He could see that his powers were working. The wolves walked with a little more confidence and they seemed to be less worried.

Alice grabbed Jasper's hand and gave it a squeeze. She knew the next part would be hard on him. He had to deal with all the emotions coming from everyone and still send out emotions to calm everyone. She wasn't sure how his gift would affect the other supernatural creatures. She knew the world had changed. She knew they needed allies on what was coming. She wasn't sure if she could trust her gift. There were so many holes in her vision. She knew with her family around she had hope. She marveled that they never questioned her abilities even when she told them, she could not see everything. Her strongest supporter was Jasper, and she loved him even more.


	37. Ch03c Stefan Learns of Aliens

**Stefan Learns of Aliens**

Stefan went to his locker. It was close to Ms. deLauro's class. He waited to see which way Max went. Max came out of the boys' bathroom a few moments later. Stefan could tell that he has splashed water on his face. He walked away from him. Stefan started to follow him. But he heard someone call Max's name.

"Max! Max! Excuse me, excuse me." said Liz she was the girl that was Max's lab partner "Max, I have to talk to you."

Stefan saw her grab his arm and pull him into a room. He used his vampire hearing to listen in. He could tell someone else was in the room with them. Whoever it was, was beating on some drums.

"Kyle!" he heard Liz exclaimed.

So, he is the one beating on the drums thought Stefan.

"Hey!" Stefan heard Kyle say in the same tone.

"Hey," Liz said again. This time with some nervousness in her voice.

"Hey Max," said Kyle.

'So, Max was still there.' thought Stefan.

"Hey," said Max.

"So, did you get my message?" asked Kyle.

"Oh yeah, I did. I was uh, just a little..." Stefan heard Liz stammer.

"Shaken up," said Kyle.

"That's what it was," said Liz. But Stefan could tell that she was not telling the truth by the inflections in her voice.

"I know, my dad told me about the gun going off," said Kyle. "You okay?'

A gun going off. Guns were not necessarily lethal to a vampire. They hurt like hell to be shot by one. Stefan was wondering what Liz had to do with a gun. Did she accidentally shoot herself?

"Oh, yea I am, it was just a bang and then it was over," said Liz.

"So, you guys are...?" asked Kyle.

"Um, we're looking for a place... to study, for our Bio midterm," said Liz. Stefan could tell that was another lie.

"Oh right. Right okay, Biology. All right, I was leaving anyway." said Kyle.

"Great, um, that's good." Stefan heard Liz say.

"Right. See ya, Max," said Kyle.

Stefan looked towards the door. He saw a boy with brown hair wearing a letterman jacket. Stefan could tell that he was a jock and played on the football team. He paused for a moment and then shook his head and walked away. Stefan could tell by the look on his face. He was not sure what was going on with Liz and Max. Stefan suspected that there was something between Liz and Kyle.

"So... you're going out with the Sheriff's son?" he heard Max say.

Liz and Kyle had a history together and Kyle was the sheriff's son. That was valuable information to know. Stefan closed his locker and headed towards the bulletin board was across the door that Kyle just came out of.

"Um, yea. Well, it's kind of like this, this casual...okay." Stefan heard Liz stammer. "Max. Can we just focus here for one minute please?"

Stefan could see Liz through the slit between the doors. She had pulled up her shirt. There was a silver painted hand on it. The slit was not wide enough for him to see the whole thing.

"Wow," said Max

"Um, I-I looked at your blood that Ms. deLauro gave me. This is really hard to say, I'm trying to keep from blacking out here," said Liz. "Um, the cells weren't normal. So, Max, what I'm going to suggest to you is that we just go back to the bio lab now, so that I can take a sample so that I can see what I'm thinking is wrong, you know? That I got the wrong cells..."

What did she mean? "The cells weren't normal." thought Stefan to himself.

"You didn't," said Max.

"Hi." said a blonde girl walking up to Stefan.

Stefan just looked at her for a moment. Still trying to hear what Liz was saying.

"I'm sorry but I need to get to my locker." said the blonde girl trying to walk around Stefan.

"Sorry," said Stefan and moved closer to the band room's door.

"Okay, um. So, help me out here Max. I mean, what are you? he heard Liz say.

"Well I'm not from around here." he heard Max's response.

"Where you from?" asked Liz. "Up north?"

Stefan moved toward the other angle of the door so he could see Max. He saw Max standing there with his hand raise pointing a finger in the air.

"You're not an, an alien, I mean. Are you?" asked Liz.

"Well, I prefer the term, not of this earth. Sorry, it's not a good time to joke," said Max. "Yea, I am. Wow, it's weird to actually say it."

"_Did he just actually say that he was an alien_?" thought Stefan. That might explain why his blood was so enticing. Stefan was not sure he believed him. There were strange supernatural beings out there. Maybe Max did not know what he was.

"Liz..." he heard Max say. He could not see Max anymore through the slit.

"Um, Max, you know, I have, I'm gonna be late for my US Government class, so I'm just gonna..." said Liz

Stefan could tell that Liz was heading towards the door. Stefan turned to walk away. He saw the blonde girl looking at him with a weird look on her face. She turned back to her locker when she realized that Stefan was looking back at her. Stefan walked to his next class. Still listening to what was said by Max and Liz.

"Liz, listen to me. You can't talk to anyone about this. Not your parents, not Maria. No one." said Max pleadingly. "You don't understand what'll happen if you do. Liz, please? Now my life is in your hands."

Stefan turned the corner in the hallway. He looked over his shoulder just in time to see Liz leaving the band room. When he turned back, he ran into Elena coming out of the boys' bathroom. All thoughts of Max and aliens went completely out of his mind once he saw her. His heart swelled with love and passion for her.

"Uh, Pardon me. Um... Is this the men's room?" asked Stefan looking at the sign that said Boys Restroom.

"Yes. Um, I was just, Um... I was just ... It's a long story..." stated Elena sounding flustered.

Elena tries to go around him while he tries to go around her. They do this awkward dance for a moment. Stefan finally stops and steps aside for her. She passes beside him.

"Thank you," said Elena then heads towards her next class.


	38. Ch03d Pretty Controllers

**Pretty Controllers**

Marco sat down at the table with his tray across from Jake and next to Rachel. They were still all tired and it showed in their eyes. "So, what is the plan tonight?" he asked.

"Tomorrow is the party in the woods," said Rachel punching her straw through her juice pouch that she had pulled out of her brown lunch bag.

"Is there a way we could cancel it?' ask Cassie. "There is something in the woods and I don't think that it is going to be safe for people to be out there."

"It would be a perfect place for "you know who" to acquire some new recruits," stated Marco looking around a little nervously. Hoping that no one heard him.

"Yeah," said Jake. "But how are we going to get everyone to not go. I mean the entire school goes there on the first weekend of the start of each new school year. It's a tradition."

"Yeah, remember last year," said Marco with a smirk on his face. When he looked at Jake, he could tell something was off. Marco turned to see what Jake was looking at. Jake was looking at some new kids coming into the cafeteria.

Marco turned around to get a better looked at them. He watched as about ten new students came in. All eyes of the cafeteria were on them. There was something definitely different with them. First, they were beautiful. The blonde girl was absolutely stunning. Marco normally had no problem talking with girls. If they turned him down when he asked them out. He always considered it their loss, not his. He could approach any girl at school and never felt intimidated by them. This blonde goddess intimidated him. Luckily, she moved behind someone to break his eye contact or someone would catch him with his tongue hanging out of his mouth.

There was an allure about them that made him want to get to know them. There was also this nagging voice in his head that screamed danger. Not like the danger of getting your heart broken, more like danger your life is in danger, danger. He wanted to morph into a falcon and fly away, but their beauty kept him mesmerized.

The small girl with the spikey hair looked their way and smiled at them. Her smile fit her pixie-like face. It was a smile that said I know more about what is going on, than you. It was not a condescending smile, more of quiet assurance, like an old wise woman who just knew things would turn out the right way. Yes, the smile fit her face it was welcoming and warm. Her eyes told a different story. They radiated mystery and possibility. Her eyes scanned over their table as if she could look at each of their futures and knew exactly what their future held.

The blonde guy behind her entered next and immediately everyone felt calm. He walked close behind the pixie-like girl was in front of him. He did not look around. He did not smile, nor did he frown. He seemed in deep concentration with himself and at the same time he looked calm. The tension in the room seemed to melt away when he entered. He replaced the feeling of danger and allure with a feeling of calmness.

"Controllers" whispered Rachel.

"I am not sure," said Jake. "I have never seen such pretty controllers." while looking at Rosalie walking by.

"I know what you mean," said Cassie and Rachel together as Edward walked in.

They watched as the new kids made their way to a table. They noticed that the dark-haired boy and girl went to the lunch line. They got in line behind Elena, Caroline, and Bonnie. The others had brown bag lunches, but they didn't seem too eager to eat what was in them. Except for the two Native American looking boys and the girl. The boy looked young he must have been a freshman. The girl looked uncomfortable being stared at.

"Ok we need to figure out what we are going to do about tonight," said Jake turning back to his sandwich and taking a bite.

"Let's meet up at Cassie's house after school with Ax and Tobias," said Jake getting up and taking his tray to the dishwasher.

'So, do you think the new kids are controllers?' ask Marco in thought-speak to Jake.

'There is something off about them.' thought Jake back looking over at the table where the Cullen were seated. He found the bronze hair guy looking at him and Marco. He would have sworn that he could hear their thoughts.

The girls looked at them and could tell that something was wrong by the look on their faces. No one said a word out loud as they emptied their trays in the garbage before placing them in the dishwasher's window.

'What is wrong?' thought Rachel to them as she placed her tray into the window.

'It is the new kid, with the bronze hair,' thought spoke Jake.

'You mean Mr. Gorgeous,' thought spoke Rachel.

'I don't know broad shoulders and a nice chest is so delicious also,' thought spoke Cassie glancing back to look at Emmett.

'Yeah, he is…' thought spoke Rachel.

'Well I think that Mr. Gorgeous over there can hear our thought-speak,' said Jake cutting her off.

Everyone turned and looked at the bronze hair guy. He was looking in their direction. He gave them a small smile and a slight head nod before looking away towards the muscle jock and said something to him. The muscle jock looked over at them and puffed out his chest towards the girls.

"Just kill me now," said Cassie trying to hide her embarrassment.

"Wait, if he can hear our thought-speak," said Marco quietly so that no one could hear them. "Could he be an Andalite?"

"I am not sure," said Jake. "I think that we need to talk with Ax just to make sure.

'I am going to try something," thought spoke. 'Hey new guy, hey you with the perfect hair and skin. Yea, you. Can you hear me?' The last part he shouted it in his head. Rachel slaps his head for shouting so loud in their head.

They looked over at the bronze hair guy, they noticed that he did not even look at them. He was busy talking to the pretty brunette girl sitting beside him.

'See guys I think it was just a coincident that he looked like he was listening to us,' thought spoke Marco.

'Sad,' thought spoke Cassie. 'it would have been nice to have another person on our side.'

'I just hope that they are not a new type of Yeerk' controller,' thought spoke Jake as they left the cafeteria heading to their lockers. He tried to hold back a yawn but failed. It would have been great to have an extra person take patrols.

'Yea, that would be great,' thought spoke Cassie following the others out of the cafeteria and to their lockers to get their stuff for their next classes.


	39. Ch03e Why Do They Have Lower Temperature

**Why Do They Have Lower Temperature?**

Kyle placed his tray down on the table and sat next to Amanda and across from Declan. Josh and Lori were seated as well. Jessi was still in the lunch line picking out her food. Everything here at Beacon Hills High was going well, and he enjoyed all his classes. The incident from the hallway still confused. It was not the interactions of the two sports teams. He and Declan were on the basketball team back at their old school. He knew about the rivalry between sports teams. It was more something in the way Scott, Erica, Isaac, and Jackson acted that set his curiosity ablaze. Plus, he still could not figure out how Stefan did that to his face. He knew something was different about him. This school had a unique underground culture to it. Most schools did, this one Kyle knew was different. He needed time to figure it out and Kyle loved puzzles like this.

"There are some hot hunnies that go here," said Josh glancing around the cafeteria. His eyes lingering over several girls for a few seconds. Even though his eyes linger over several girls his heart still belonged to Andy, she was the only girl for him. He could not get his mind off of her.

"Yeah too bad they only have eyes for me," said Declan teasingly.

"They see you and they see nothing but a jock. They see me, and they see a bad boy in need of saving," said Josh.

"From all the girls who will try to save him," said Lori. Jessi just looked at her strangely.

"He thinks all the girls around here will fall madly in love with him," said Amanda. Jessi just looked at Josh then looked at Amanda and then Lori. Then back at Josh. Jessi still had a problem with metaphors with people interacting. She was almost too literally in her thinking.

"Does this mean we will fall madly in love with him?" asked Jessi.

"Uggh No!" said Josh. "I said hunnies."

Kyle just smiled at the interactions of his family and friends. He would still have to fill Jessi in on some social norms, but she was a quick learner. She seemed to struggle with human interactions the most. Kyle looked around the cafeteria hoping to see if he could spot Stefan, so far, he was nowhere in sight. Something or someone caught his eye. She was very petite. Almost delicate. She walked with such grace. To Kyle, she danced as she walked. Her movements mesmerized him. Just when he thought no one could move like that. A blond guy walked in behind her. He also had a similar grace when walking just like the girl. but there were waves of tranquility emanating from him. Kyle just felt so calm as he watched the group come into the cafeteria. He knew the calmness he felt was not natural and that somehow the blond guy was manipulating his emotions.

"They are so gorgeous," said Lori looking at Jasper.

"I like their clothes," said Amanda looking at the petite girl's outfit.

"Something is not right with them," stated Jessi, but no one seemed to hear her except for Kyle.

Kyle agreed with her. he watched as they moved to a table at the rear of the cafeteria. Everyone was watching them. He looked around and noticed that everyone was enthralled with the newcomers. But there were some that did not seem to be taken in. He would have to think about that later. Kyle could sense that things were different here at Beacon Hills.

The last of the newcomers came in through the door. He also looked like a fashion model with his bronze hair. He looked at Kyle and a puzzled look crossed his face in the briefest of instances. These newcomers filled Kyle with curiosity. Kyle looked around he noticed that not all the newcomers were alike. Six of them had a beauty about them that made everyone one in a room take notice of them. Their beauty had such an effect on everyone it was easy to miss the other four people with them.

"Their body temperature is different," whispered Jessi to Kyle.

"How do you know?" asked Kyle.

Jessi just looked at him and cocked her head. "Can't you tell with your eyes?" she asked.

Kyle remembered what Adam Baylin said to him. He could do incredible things with his body just my sheer will alone. He needed to allow his mind to make the necessary changes to his body. He imagined his iris and lens moving at the correct angles to see into the infrared spectrum. It amazed him on how his eyes refocused to allow him to see this way. He thought of Jessi and was amazed that she was so advanced in controlling her body. She had a knack for disciplining it. She still lacked so much in interpersonal and relationship skills. Kyle often wonders why she was this way. He hypothesis that Zzyzx wanted more of an analytical vice emotional lab-grown human.

Kyle looked over at the newcomers and noticed that six of them were cooler, one was normal, and three was a lot hotter than the rest. Their temperatures puzzled him. The three hot ones should be in a fever coma by now. He would have them in tubs of ice in a freezer to lower their body temperature and the others he would have put them in under heat lamps. They seemed not to be bothered by their temperature and acted as if they were just normal people. He knew people ran different temperatures. But normal people did not run as cold or hot as they were. He thought maybe it was a virus. But a virus would not make some people colder and others hot. No, something was off about them.

"Were they another Zzyzx experiment?" Kyle quickly dismissed the thought.

"Now that is a Grade A hunny," stated Josh looking at the gorgeous blonde female.

"Yeah," stated Declan as well.

Kyle noticed that he was staring at the beautiful blonde female as well. Kyle never saw his best friend look or act like this. He wanted to ask him what he was thinking but for some reason, the memory of his pool incident kept coming to his mind. He did not understand what his subconscious was telling him. He knew now was not the time to say anything.

Kyle felt waves of impassivity come off the blonde guy. He noticed that everyone else slowly continued with what they were doing before the newcomers arrived. He looked at Jessi and noticed that she knew something was going on. He could tell that she was not sure either.

They finished their lunch. The bell rang, and they all got up and walked towards the trash can and towards their next class. He would need to use his holistic memory of this event to review everything that happens. He would sleep in the tub tonight. The events of the day would need to be replayed in detail.


	40. Ch03f Four Sees the Sparkle Ones

**Four See the Sparkle Ones**

Four was at the table looking at Sarah coming towards him. She was walking towards him with a tray of food. Her hair hugged her face. She shook her head to get it off her cheek. To Four it was the cutest thing he has seen her do since she came into the cafeteria.

"Boy, you have it bad." said Six

"Yes, I do." said Four smiling at Sarah as she sat down next to him. "And I am so happy."

"So, no problem with the paperwork?" asked Sam.

"None whatsoever," said Mark looking at his food on the tray very strangely. "Is this even edible?"

"We had some weirdness at the school's office. There were some other kids in the office. They were acting very bizarre." said Sam.

"What is bizarre?" asked Sarah.

"I am not sure," stated Four as he took a bite of a green bean. He looked at the bean weirdly as if he was not sure it was edible, then ate the rest, not really caring if it was. "There was a guy with a girl in the office. The guy was... I don't know how to say it..."

"Deadly," stated Sam as he ate his pizza.

"Do you think he was a Mog?" ask Six looking around the cafeteria for an attack.

"I don't think so," said Four in a not so sure voice. "There was something different about him and the girl. I can't explain it."

"Yeah, and the other girl. The one that touched you as we were leaving. She was strange too." said Sam

"What girl touched you," asked Sarah with a tone in her voice was like ice. It made Sam decide that this was a good time to take a long drink of his water. Trying to hide from Sarah's stare.

Four just looked at her and smiled oblivious to her jealousy. "She was very strange as well. She kept looking like she was analyzing everything. I thought that the guy would get up when the lady called my name."

"Yeah, that was weird. The way he acted upon hearing your name," said Sam. Four could tell Sam was trying to piece together something in his mind. Ever since he found out that his father had been helping the Lorien's like him and Six. He looked at everything as a clue to help them find the rest of the Garde.

"Wow, who is that," stated Mark looking at the doors of the cafeteria.

Four looked over his shoulder and saw who Mark was looking at. She was small and petite and had spiky hair. She was very graceful in how she moved. She was pretty but did not match the beauty of Sarah. He wondered if Mark would ask her out. He knew that He and Sarah were together and Sam and Six were in each other's orbits. Even if she would not admit it to herself. He knew that Sam was the one for her. It would be good for Mark to have a girlfriend. Ever since his parents died, and he had gotten drawn into all this alien drama. He had thrown himself into doing everything for them. He cooks, cleans, works out, helps Sam find clues on the internet. But, does nothing for himself.

Four thinks Mark has changed so much since they first met. He was the son of the Sherriff. He was the quarterback of the football team. He was a real jerk. Everything he did was for himself. He would use his friends and family to get what he wanted. Now he has been dragged into this war and with the death of his family. He is a changed man. War can do that to people.

He looked back at his friend now. He saw his face was still crushing on the petite girl. He smiled to himself and thought it was a good look on Mark's face. He looked over at Sam and saw he had the same look. He looked at Six and saw she was on guard. She was always on guard just she seemed more so now. He looked over at Sarah and she also seemed to be enthralled like Mark and Sam.

Four felt a wave of calmness come over him. He turned around and noticed a blonde hair guy following behind the spiky hair girl. Four could tell that he was the one that was making everyone feel calm. There was something different about the new kids that had entered the cafeteria. He focused on one of the three that did not have the same radiance as the rest of them did. He saw a guy with short black hair. He must have had some Native American in him. Four was not well versed in the different tribes around here. It looked to him that the three were related or at least from the same tribe.

He got a flash of a wolf in his mind, a very large wolf, from him. He did not have telepathy, but he could communicate with animals. They saw in pictures and emotions. Four could see that this guy or wolf was looking at the dark-haired girl and the emotion of love, protection, and devotion was coming from him. The other boy and girl also had a "wolf" mind is the only way Four could describe it to himself. They directed their wolf's thoughts to the first boy. Their thoughts loosely translated to Four as alpha, protect, and follow. Four was not sure what all that meant.

Another wave of calmness hit him, and a sense of normalcy followed. He saw that everyone went back to doing what they were doing before the newcomers came in. He knew that the blonde guy was doing it. He looked over and noticed that Six also knew that the blonde guy was manipulating the humans' emotions.

He saw Six take out a pen and a piece of paper and wrote something on it. Sarah looked at is as she was writing. "I can't believe that I left my brush at home," she said. Loud enough for people to hear around but not loud enough to cause people to stare. They did this as a way of distracting anyone who might listen to them. Someone would start off an innocent conversation about leaving something behind and that they needed to get it. This way they had an excuse to leave, encase anyone was watching them.

Six covered what she was writing and moved it and her hand towards Mark. "I might have an extra one in my locker," said Six as she raised her hand off the table. At the same time, Mark put his hand on the small sheet of paper. To the casual observer, it looked natural.

"Can you believe girls today, always pimping for their next selfie," said Mark. He then grabbed Sam around his shoulder with his arm. Held out his other hand as they pretended that they were taking a selfie. In his camera hand, Sam could read what Six wrote. After doing some duck faces. He and Sam did a high five with each other. The note passing from Mark to Sam. Sam held out his hand to Four as if to shake it. Sam just moved his palm over Four's then when they were apart, they snapped their fingers and pointed at each other. The note passing to Four.

"You guys are insufferable," said Sarah in mock anger.

"Yeah, but you love us anyway," said Sam to Six who just rolled her eyes.

Four seen that Six wrote Mogs on the sheet of paper. He crumbled the paper in his hand and allowed his lumen to destroy it. He shook his head at them as if to tell them no. He listened to them banter about Sarah and her hairbrush. He knew that they were waiting on him to come up with a plan for them to follow. The months that they have been on the run and in hiding had them being able to read each other. He knew that Six was planning on hunting the newcomers down. Sam had secretly taken pictures of them and sent them to his computer at the house to run facial recognition on them.

He looked over at Sarah and could tell that she was tense. He knew that it would be hard for her and Mark to face the Mogadorians. He just wished that he could have saved her from all of this. Why did he and Henri have to go to Paradise Falls? He never would have met her. She would be safe. He knew that it also meant that he would have never found his true love. He just pushed that thought out of his mind.

"You look beautiful, just the way you are," said Four kissing her hand. This was code for they were not endangered. He could see that she physically relaxes when he said that. He looked over at Six and could tell that she was still not sure. "But if it makes you feel any better, we can go to Maren's locker and get a brush."

They finish their meal quickly and picked up their trays and headed to the dishwasher. Four looked around. He saw the bronze hair new guy looking at him. There was a flash of images that came to Four they were too fast for him to make them out. The guy just looked at him strangely for a second before looking away.

They place their trays in the window for the dishwasher and left. They headed for Six's locker to get the hairbrush for Sarah. Four looked around to make sure no one was watching them while Six opened her locker. "They are not Mogs," he said. "They could be part of the Garde,"


	41. Ch03g Luca and Ben at Lunch

**Luca and Ben at Lunch**

Luca closed his locker and walked right into Isaac Lahey. Isaac just looked at him, got a smirk on his face a pushed him back. Luca stumbled into the lockers hard. That would leave a mark.

"Watch it," stated Isaac almost has a growl.

"Dude, what's your problem?" said Luca rubbing his shoulder.

"Dude you need to stay out of my way," growled Isaac.

Luca just looked at the taller boy. He wanted to punch him in the face. As he thought about it, there was a quick sharp pain in the base of his head. He winced at the pain.

"Leave him alone." said a voice.

Luca turned and saw it was Scott McCall and standing beside him was Stiles. Luca got some weird images coming from Isaac. He saw Scott with glowing eyes and fur around his face. He saw Erica also with orange eyes and fangs. The images made little sense to Luca. He looked at Isaac and tried to read his mind again. But he could get nothing. Isaac was blocking him. He wished that he was stronger in telepathy. Isaac just looked at him and gave him a smirk and pushed him into the locker again. Then looked back at Scott. Then walked away still looking at Scott with that same smirk plastered on his face.

"Are you ok?" asked Scott as he walked towards him to help him off the locker.

"Yes," said Luca.

Scott just nodded his head and turned to Stiles. Some sort of silent communication happened between them as they left in the same direction that Isaac went. Luca watched them go then he headed towards the cafeteria. He walked in and got his food. A slice of pizza and a juice box. He looked around the cafeteria and saw his friend Ben Mason setting at their table.

"Hi, geek," said Luca to Ben who had his head buried in some fantasy novel.

"Hi, nerd," said Ben looking over his glasses at Luca. He placed a Star Trek bookmark in the book and closed it. He placed it on the table beside his tray.

"So, you coming by this weekend?" asked Ben shoving a slice of pizza in his mouth. "I just completed the AeroDactyl rocket. It is a two-stage rocket. I think that I will try to put a camera on it. I took a camera off my mini-drone that should work fine for it."

"Yeah," said Luca. "I want to if my jerk of a brother will let me. My mom has to work this weekend, so he is in charge."

He glimpsed Ben's mind. Ben was already thinking of changing the engine of his rocket to go higher. Luca enjoyed hanging out with Ben. He just wanted to explore things. He also had an older brother who was popular and a jock. Ben had asthma and was sick often and kids would tease him. But he did not even seem to notice the teasing. Ben was in his own world and did not notice people that much.

"I hope so," said Ben finishing his juice pouch. "I found a great clearing in the woods that would be just awesome to get some aerial footage."

"Speaking of the woods," said Luca. "Are you going to go to the party in the woods this weekend?"

"No.," said Ben as he took another bite of his pizza.

Luca knew Ben would not go. He had a feeling that deep down inside Ben would have wanted to go but, because of his asthma, he would not have an enjoyable time. The desire was there, but the ability was lacking.

"Wow! an elven princess," stated Ben looking over the shoulder of Luca with his mouth literally gaping.

Luca turned and looked. There was an allure about the dark hair pixie-like girl that was gliding through the cafeteria. She was stunning in a supernatural way. Luca tried to read her mind. He could not comprehend the images he was seeing. It was as if she was not thinking thoughts but viewing images in her mind. It made his head hurt trying to follow along with her thoughts.

A wave of calmness washed over him. He was thankful for that. It helped relieve the headache. He looked back to see where the calmness was coming from. He felt it was coming from a blond model looking guy walking behind the Elven princess. If she was a princess. He was a prince. By looking at him, he seemed to be the perfect match for the Elven princess. He looked over at Ben and saw he too noticed the blond guy. The look on Ben's face was of disappointment. Did he really think he had a chance with her? He knew Ben like girls it just he never saw him get disappointed when one was taken by another guy. This Elven princess must really be Ben's type.

"Well. I need to go," said Ben still looking at the Elven princess.

"Yeah, me too," said Luca watching more of the model looking kids, as he referred to them as come into the cafeteria. He took his tray and put it into the dishwasher's window. He looked around the cafeteria one more time. He saw the bronze model guy look at him. He tried to read his mind.

'_Luca can you get home by yourself today,'_ said Stephen in his head. Interrupting him from reading the guy's thoughts. He really hated being a telepath sometimes. His brother could always call him at any time. He was glad that their telepathy was not like you see on TV. They had to be actively wanting to read your mind. He could do a shallow scan of people's thoughts. If he wanted to listen to someone's thoughts he would have to concentrate. He imagined it like if you are in a room full of people you can hear everyone is talking. Not until you zero in on someone's conversation could you make out the details. Another side effect, as he likes to call it, was it was like a phone. If another telepath wanted to contact, all they had to do was to concentrate on you and call you up. Instead of a phone call, you would hear them in your head. They could not necessarily hear what you were thinking. They just interrupted anything you were thinking about.

'_Yeah,'_ thought Luca back.

'_Thanks.'_

'_Why, what are you going to be doing?'_ thought Luca back. Stephen was blocking him. He did not know how Stephen blocked him and that really irked him. Stephen could always call him, and he could not do the same.


	42. Ch03h Roswell at Lunch

**Roswell at Lunch**

"I'll take two tacos and a fruit cup," said Isabel as she went through the lunch line. She turned and ran into Claire Bennett. Claire was on the cheerleading team with her. She was nice and not as bitchy as some girls on the team. They were not friends but, they were not enemies either.

"So, are you going to be at cheerleading practice," asked Claire her blonde hair pulled up in the back.

"Yeah," said Isabel putting her food on her tray. "Why? Aren't you?"

"Yes, I am," said Claire. "It's just that I can't stay late. I have some stuff that I have to do, and you know how Caroline is."

"So, you need me to keep Caroline off your back," asked Isabel.

"Yes, please," said Claire. "It would mean so much."

"OK, but you owe me," said Isabel.

"Thank you, thank you," said Claire as she rushed off. "I'll pay you back. I promise."

Isabel watched Claire leave out the cafeteria door. She walked over to the table where Max and Michael were sitting. She was still angry with Max from earlier this morning. Isabel set her tray on the table and sat next to Max and across from Michael. She looked in her purse for some Tabasco sauce.

"I can't believe this Max, said Isabel to Max. "You know, I finally feel like I have a quasi-normal existence and you blow it all with one random act of lunacy. How did you let my misguided brother do this? She turned to Michael for an answer. He was putting tabasco sauce on his taco.

"Hey, don't turn this around on me," said Michael trying to look offended. "I'm not the one who thinks he's a superhero."

"Look, I said I was sorry," said Max trying his best to plead with them.

"You're sorry? You break a sacred pact and that's all you have to say? It's against the rules Max, the rules we made!" said Isabel's voice going a little louder with each phase.

"You use your powers all the time," said Max in a voice that tried to be accusatory but, only sounded lame instead.

"Recreationally," said Isabel not giving Max any leeway in his argument. Isabel looks up and makes sure no one is watching her. She moves her hand over her taco for a second and heats it up. She takes a bite out of it and a piece of melted cheese hangs from her mouth to the taco.

"The important thing is, to contain this. We have to figure out what to say to Miss Scientist," said Isabel using her finger to get the rest of the cheese in her mouth.

She looked over at Max and could tell that he was guilty of something. Then she realized, now she was angry. "Oh my God, you told her."

"I didn't have a choice," said Max trying to sound calm and not upset Isabel any more than what she was. "It's gonna be okay."

"Don't you realize that everything has changed," she said. She could not believe Max could have been so careless.

"No, it hasn't," Max pleaded by the look in his eyes. Isabel could not believe he could be so dense. She did not know what came over her brother. Max always played it safe.

"Max, she's right, we're screwed. It's time to leave Roswell," said Michael as he gets up from the table and heads to dispose of his tray.

Isabel gets up to follow them. She notices some new kids that were sitting at a table. She did not remember them coming in. But she loved their outfits. Their outfits were by the latest designer. They all looked like they walked out of a magazine. She knew boys found her attractive, but the blonde girl was dazzling. She would have to talk to her about where she gets her clothes from.

"Michael, we can't just leave," said Max who seemed oblivious to the new kids.

"Yea, we can. We've always known this day would come, said Michael as if he was looking forward to this. "We said when it did, we'd be prepared."

Michael, where are we gonna go, said Isabel trying to curb his enthusiasm. "You know Roswell's home."

She follows them out of the cafeteria doors. They walk a little way down the hall and go outside to the courtyard. Michael turns and faces them.

"Roswell's not home," he said glancing around. "It's not even in our solar system," he said in even a lower voice but with more intensity.

"Well, this is the closest thing we have to home right now," Max said trying to reason with him.

"For you two, maybe, it was you the Evans found on the side of the road, not me," said Michael. "They're like real parents to you. My foster dad just keeps me around for the monthly check."

"This is gonna be OK. We should just lie low," said Max "Just go to class and act normal."

"Act normal? That's your big plan Max?" said Isabel. She felt guilty about what Michael had been through. She knew he had hidden when the Evans showed up. But something scared him. They were all scared. She knew Michael did not have a good upbringing. She felt guilty about it. She remembered asking Michael about the bruises she saw on his arms when they were in elementary school. He played it off. But she now understood where Michael was coming from. Humans could be cruel. If they could do that to a child. What would they do to them?

"Don't you realize it's only a matter of time before they find us and turn us over to some government agency where they're gonna test us and prod us, and, oh yea, exterminate us," Michael said.

Max looked at them. He looked defeated like his back was against the wall. "I could not let her die," he said.

It took Isabel a bit back by her brother's show of emotions. He must really like this girl. She understood where Michael was coming from as well. Michael still looked like he wanted to run right now.

"Michael, everything is gonna be okay," said Max trying to convince his best friend.

"No, it won't," said Michael walking further away from where people could hear them. "Our cover is blown. And I'm not gonna hang around and wait for them to catch us."

"No one is caught yet," said Max challenging. "I mean, we don't even know if there is a 'them.'"

"What happened to our parents? What happened to everybody else on the ship? Something killed them, and you know it. "Michael said in an even tone."

"Liz won't tell anyone, she's different," Max whispered.

"Really?" said Michael sternly. "So, how'd she react when you told her? 'Great, you're an alien that's fantastic.'"

Max looked away. Isabel could tell he felt guilty. But that did not change the fact that Max broke their golden rule.

"No, I didn't think so," said Michael turning and walking away.

"Thought I was pissed," said Isabel watching Michael leave. "We will talk about this later." She too turned and walked away from Max. Leaving him there to let the reality of his decision weigh on him.


	43. Ch03i Cameron See Vampires

**Cameron See Vampires**

John sat down at the table. There were other students sitting there at the end. They looked like the jock type. As soon as they saw him, they got up from the table and left. 'Well, so much for making friends.' he thought to himself. So far, this school sucked for him. He seemed to have a hard time connecting to people. 'Some great leader I will be' he thought to himself as he sat down to mope. Cameron came and sat down in front of him. Placing her tray down and looking at it like she was trying to analyze it.

"So is it edible," he asked her. She looked at him for a second. He could tell that she was analyzing him. Then took her spork and stabbed it into a chicken nugget and ate it.

John just looked away. He looked around the cafeteria again. Everyone was either eating, talking, or on their phones, most were on their phones. He looked back at Cameron. She was looking around the cafeteria as well. John knew she was always scanning for threats when she did. His older self-perplexed him. Why did he send her back? He knew she would defend him and do anything to protect him. He did not trust her. She came across to him as trying too hard to win his trust and that is exactly why he did not trust her. He probably got that from his mom to never trust a machine.

"There something not quite right about this place," she stated as she kept looking around. Doing her analyzing stuff.

"Yeah, you think." John said. "Well, it is a high school. Filled with people who don't know that the world is going to be taken over by machines one day."

Cameron looked around the cafeteria again. Ignoring his snide remark against machines. Her gazed settled on a table where three guys and two girls were sitting at. Two of the guys had that jock look. They each had a muscular build that was typical of guys who seemed to have gone through puberty without going through the awkward phase. He really hated guys like that. The third guy was more of the geek type. He looked like he should be playing an online game slaying dragons or demons. Than hanging around the two jock types. The two blonde girls were on the high side on the good-looking scale. He knew that in reality they would not even look his way.

"You see, the blonde guy and the long hair blonde girl." said Cameron shaking him out of his self-loathing.

"Yeah." John said.

"They do not give off any pheromones." Cameron said.

John quickly looked back at the table. They seemed to be talking amongst themselves. The blonde guy looked over at him and looked away. John could tell that he did not even recognize him. Normally when a terminator saw him, they stop what they were doing and attacked him.

"Terminators?" asked John.

Cameron did not answer him. She was staring at the door to the hallway. John could tell that she was using her entire processing power to analyze something. John saw a petite girl coming through the door. Her spikey hair cut looks great on her. Her movements when she walked was so graceful. She took John's breath away. She was mesmerizing just to watch. There were beauty and grace to the way she walked. John thought no one could be that beautiful. He felt waves of calmness coming over him as a tall blond guy came in next. John felt envious of him. He radiated confidence and calmness just by the way he walked. John could tell he was one of "those type of guys" who was always cool under pressure.

Another guy walked in behind the blond one. He had dark hair and a muscular build. He had a big grin on his face as he came in. When he saw, the blonde girl coming in next. John knew his mouth was hanging open. She was absolutely stunning. Her golden hair hanging below her shoulders. The curves of her body brought to life every fantasy he ever had. He stared at her as she walked towards the table where the others were sitting at. He did not notice the others coming in behind her. His eyes were on the blonde girl. He had to move his legs as his body reacted to what he was looking at. He knew he had to look away or else he would be really embarrassed when he had to stand up.

Waves of calmness hit him again and this time he got the feeling that everything was normal. He could not describe the feeling exactly, but it made him want to go back to what he was doing earlier. He was so thankful for those waves hitting him. He could look away. He put a couple bits of his tater tots in his mouth trying to get his mind back from where it was going. He needed a cold shower. He looked over at Cameron she was looking at them as well.

"Are they machines?" ask John under his breath. He hoped that the blonde girl was not a terminator type. If she was, they lost the future.

"I need More data," Cameron said. "We need to go."

John glanced over one more time at the blonde goddess. The big muscular guy who was good looking also, had his arm around her letting everyone know she was his. He felt a little envious at the guy. Wishing he could be him. He took in a breath and let it out. Hoping that all the tension and wishful thinking out with it. He knew he needed to be strong. He needed to be a leader. He knew if he did not become the leader that the future needed him to be. The blonde goddess would die and that is something he did not want.


	44. Ch03j Vampires Reveal

**Vampire Reveal**

They all walked out of the office. Esme told her goodbyes to everyone again, especially to Renesmee and surprisingly to the wolves also, before she left the school. Edward looked at everyone. This was the time that they all dreaded. The reveal as they like to call it. Each time they came to a different school for the first time they would always start out during lunch. This allowed everyone to see them and for the Cullen's to see everyone.

Alice walked into the cafeteria first followed by Jasper, then Rosalie and Emmett, Jacob and Renesmee, and finally Bella and Edward with Leah and Seth not far behind. The cafeteria was like so many that they have been in before. Full of white tables and teenagers hanging out with their friends. It had the typical cliques': jocks, nerds, and skaters just to name a few. But most of their conversations stopped when the Cullen's walked in.

Everyone looked, some guys even openly gaped at the sight of Rosalie. Edward tried not to read their thoughts, but he knew that there would be lots of wet dreams tonight. Hormones were out of control during this age. Edward passed a table with two guys, one with blond hair the other with thick dark hair. There were two girls, a blonde and a brunette, sitting with them. Their thoughts were different they all thought the Cullen's were very attractive, but they all seemed to be worried that they were Controllers. Edward sensed that something was different about them. It was as if their minds were connected to more of an animal instinct. It was as if they all had experience on exactly how a bird knows how to fly, a snake knows how to slither, or a rabbit knows how to jump.

Edward was intrigued by what he could read of their thoughts. He did not have the time to probe deeper into their minds. He sensed that something called a Yeerk worried them. Edward kept getting a mental picture of a slug inside someone's head controlling them. At first, he brushed it off as a video game or a delusion. But, all four of them had the same concern and mental picture. He would have to ask Alice if any of her vision had worms controlling people's minds.

He kept walking past them, the next table had kids around it but the dark-haired boy with the blue eyes stood out the most. He heard the others at his table call him Kyle. His mind was very vast, and Edward surmised that he must be a genius. Edward could tell that Kyle had already perceived that they were different. But where most people were scared and allured at the same time. Kyle's mind seemed to be full of curiosity. The dark-haired girl at the table. Her mind was also vast. Her mind seemed extremely logical to him. He read her mind and could not believe that she could see his body temperature. He sensed no danger from them. He would tell the rest of the family about her skills later.

At the next table sat three guys and two girls. The two brown hair guys were smitten by them as well as one of the blonde hair girls. But the other two, the blond guy and the blonde girl, their minds were different. Theirs were not human. They could block out a deep scan. Edward could sense that the guy wanted to ask him a question but didn't. He could pick up a strange image of a man. The image that Edward saw wasn't a man. The name that went with the image was Mogadorian. Edward tried to get a deeper scan, but the blond kid blocked him. This surprised Edward. He had no one resist him except Bella, but she was a shield. The girl's mind was also blocked, but she did not seem to be aware that she was being probed, unlike the guy who knew he was getting scanned.

The table across from them had three kids there. Edward could tell that their minds were different also. Their thought patterns were different. They were all scared that someone would know their secret. They did not seem to be taken in by their vampire allure. As a matter of fact, they casually glanced at them and looked away as if they were just normal teenagers. Edward felt a little hurt having humans not taken in by his charm.

As he sat with the others at the table. He looked around casually. He kept reading people's mind. Blocking out the ones that were normal. He noticed a boy with dark hair sitting across from a girl who also had dark hair. The boy's thoughts were normal but weird. It was the girl's thoughts that confused him. He could not read her mind. She must have been another shield he thought to himself. But she smelled different. The only way he could describe it was that she had a heavy metallic scent to her.

Alice found a spot for them at a table in the back. Alice always found the best spots. Some students had recently vacated the table. They all sat down except for Jacob, Leah, Seth, and Renesmee who went to get lunch trays. Edward was amazed at his daughter. She could so easily make friends. She was talking to some girls named Elena, Caroline, and Bonnie. They were talking about her outfit. Jacob looked bored to tears as he had to listen to them talk about shoes. Edward just inwardly laughed. He looked over at Emmett and smiled knowing that Emmett heard the conversation as well. Jacob was in for some teasing when he got home.

A new scent entered the room as two guys and two girls come in through the hall door. The dark-haired guy smelled like a dog. He had a scent like Jacob's but slightly different. The tall skinny guy next to him and one of the girls was human. The red-haired girl had a unique scent to her also. Edward could tell that she was human, but the underlying scent was something he could not identify. There was definitely something special with the girl. He could tell that the boy smelling like a dog noticed them, by the way, that he acted. But he was not close enough to pick out his thoughts from everyone else's.

Another new scent came into the room. This scent was of decaying flesh that someone had tried to hide behind flowers was the only way that Edward could describe it. Edward looked at Jacob and saw he too got the scent and was looking at a blond guy coming out of the lunch line with a tray of food. The guy looked at each one of them and sniffed and wrinkled his nose. Then walked out the door to the courtyard to eat his lunch.

Jasper again put out a soothing wave of calmness throughout the cafeteria. Edward could tell that everyone was going back to what they were doing before the Cullen's walked in. Jacob and Renesmee came and sat down at their table with their trays. Renesmee had a salad, a sandwich, and a bottle of water. She preferred blood but could eat human food. He could see that the wolves had their trays full of food before they even sat down. They had chicken nuggets, hotdogs, and pizza on their tray. You would think they were starving by the amount of food on their trays. Shortly after, Leah sat down with Seth who nearly knocked over his drink on the table. Luckily his quick reflexes save the table from disaster. His group knew that Seth was nervous being in a public school instead of the one on the reservation.

Edward was relieved when everyone went back to what they were doing. Well, when they pretended to go back to what they were doing anyway. He still could see guys checking out Rosalie and the rest of them. The other girls were sending jealous looks at the girls at his table. There were a group of guys who Edwards could tell were on the football team by their letterman's jackets. Edward could tell that they were trying to push one of their teammates to follow through with what he had overheard them saying earlier. He said he could have Rosalie screaming his name in bed by the end of the week.

Edward watched as the guy finally got up and walked towards their table. Emmett put his arm around Rosalie and gave the guy a look as he flexed his rather large muscles. This made the guy turn two shades lighter and go back and sit down. Edward watched as his friends all made fun of him when he returned to the table. Edward looked over at Emmett who just smirked at him.

'_I think that I smell a little bit of urine in the boy's pants,'_ thought Emmett knowing that Edward could hear his thought. Edward just laughed at that. Emmett was a fun loving, prankster type of person. He was also highly competitive. But when it came to Rosalie, he was dangerous. Edward knew that Rosalie only had eyes for him. He knew that Emmett knew that too. That did not stop him from scaring some poor human male to pee his pants.

Edward looked over at the table that had the kids whose mind were like animals. It shocked him to hear them talk to each other in their head. He heard the blond guy, Jake was his name, tell all of them they would meet up at Cassie's house with some others named Ax and Tobias. Something worried the dark-headed guy, named Marco, that Edward and his group were controllers. Edward still got a mental picture of a worm inside someone's head.

Edward brushed off the compliments that the girls were giving him. He knew that if he was not a vampire, they would not give him a second glance. He heard them talk about Emmett as well. He whispered to Emmett what they said. Emmett puffed out his chest like a rooster for them. Edward just laughed, then tried to ignore them so they would not know that he could hear them.

"Wait, if he can hear our thought-speak," said Marco quietly. He tried to say it quietly enough so that no one could hear them. But with his vampire hearing, Edward had no trouble.

Edward listened to them speak in their normal voice. Marco whispered about them being an Andalite. He got a mental picture of a blue centaur-like creature with a long tail. The thought was brief but with his vampire abilities, his mind could see it clearly.

"I am not sure," said the blond-hair guy named Jake. "I think that we need to talk with Ax just to make sure."

'_I am going to try something,'_ thought spoke Jake. _'Hey new guy, hey you with the perfect hair and skin. Yeah, you. Can you hear me?'_ Edward could hear him, choose not to respond. He did not want them to know yet that he could hear their thoughts. Edward let a small smile come across his face as the one called Rachel slapped Jake's head, probably for shouting so loud in her head.

'_See guys? I think it was just a coincidence that he looked like he was listening to us,'_ thought spoke Marco.

'_Sad,'_ thought spoke Cassie. _'It would have been nice to have another person on our side.'_

Edward watched them leave the cafeteria. He saw Alice's vision and knew that they would be a great help in the future. He knew that it was too early to tell them now. Edward knows that they will be the easiest to convince that there is an alien invasion. They are experiencing some of it now.

"So, Jake, did you pick up any fashion tips from the new girls?" teased Emmett.

"How can women know so much about shoes?" asked Jacob while stuffing his mouth with chicken nuggets. "Why do they need so many?"

"Ladies can NEVER have too many shoes," said Alice as Bella and Leah both groaned at that statement. Everyone knew that Alice was a fashion Nazi. Ever since the wolves had moved in with them, Alice had made it her mission to upgrade Leah's and Bella's wardrobe. Bella would thank Alice and put the clothes in her closet never to be seen again. Bella preferred her jeans and t-shirts. Her t-shirts were actually Edward's, but that was not the point.

Leah at first was gracious and tried to let Alice know that she did not want or need them. But Alice being Alice, went into her celebrity makeover with Leah. One thing about Leah, she did not have low self-esteem and did not need clothes or shoes to make her feel pretty or better about herself. Now, when Alice buys Leah clothes or tries to dress her, Leah allows her to, but then makes sure that she transforms into her wolf while wearing her new clothes. Shredding them in the process.

Alice could not believe that she shredded a three-hundred-dollar top she purchased for her. When Alice asked her why. Leah just stated that she thought she smelled a threat but, it turned out to be just a squirrel. Even with Leah coming up with stories of scary rodents, Alice had not stopped in her mission to update Leah's clothes from cut-off jean shorts and button-up shirts to a more designer look.

When lunch was over Edward looked over at his daughter one more time. It worried him about her being around so many new supernatural creatures. He knew that she could handle herself. She looked over at him and walked towards him with her tray in one hand. The other hand she reached out and touched his face.

Reneesme showed him a vision of all of them training her. Emmett teaching her how to fight. Jasper on how to read people's emotions and facial expression. Carlisle teaching her first aid and advance life-saving skills to help others. She showed him moments with him and Bella always being around when she needed them.

Edward smiled and wanted to give her a kiss but knew that he could not do it here. No one would understand that even though he looked like a seventeen-year-old teenager, he had a daughter that looked like she was almost the same age as him. He thanked her for reassuring him and left with the others to find his next class.


	45. Ch03k Scott Smells Something Strange at

**Ch03k Scott Smells Something Strange at Lunch**

Scott closed his locker. He hated days like this. He needed to talk to Derek. Confronting Erica and Isaac did not seem to help. He was still new to this werewolf thing. He was failing several classes. Coach would bench him. His mom was having financial issues. _'The list just keeps getting longer and longer'_ he thinks to himself. When he turned around, he came face to face with Allison.

She was looking at him from down the hall. She smiled at him. He smiles back. They were not supposed to be seen with each other. So they spoke through Stiles. It was not the best way of communicating, but it worked. Since her mom and dad were hunters, they did not want Allison to date a werewolf. But they wanted her to keep an eye on him and that is how Stiles made the love triangle work. Her parents thought she was using Stiles to find out where Derek was. In reality, she and Scott would relay messages back and forth to each other. Stiles hated it.

"Hi," said Stiles walking up - oblivious that they were having a moment. He frowned a little when Scott did not answer him right away. He followed where Scott's eyes were looking. He saw Allison. She was trying hard not to look at Scott. But even a blind man could see that she was failing at that, just by how many glances she was giving him. "You two make me sick," he teased.

Scott broke his contact with Allison to look at Stiles. "What?"

"You guys are always making puppy dog eyes at each other," said Stiles. "You two are supposed to be broken up. If her parents find out. I will be without my furry best friend."

"Don't remind me," said Scott heading towards the cafeteria, Stiles walking beside him. He glanced over towards where Allison was standing earlier. He was sad because she was no longer standing there. He hoped that he would see her soon in the cafeteria.

He rounded the corner and saw Lydia walking arm in arm with Allison. He was glad that they were friends. Jackson came up behind them and put his arms around Lydia, breaking them apart. Jackson looked like he had calmed down from his earlier altercation with Tyler and the football team. Scott really hoped that Jackson and the team could leave it alone. He watched them go into the cafeteria.

"I do not think Derek will think twice about killing a person, in order to kill the kanima," said Scott to Stiles as he waited for him to finish putting away his stuff in his locker.

"You think? He practically kidnaps Jackson, then sends clueless Isaac and superfine Erica to school. Both who are, by the way, 'geniuses,'" said Stiles as he motioned with his body to emphasize what he was saying. "I mean who decides to test someone with kanima venom. In broad daylight, in front of everyone. Totally not cool. What if she had died?"

"She didn't though," said Scott trying to reassure his best friend.

"No, but he will try to kill her," said Stiles. "Scott, we have to protect her. She might be a homicidal killer, but we can't let her die."

He said the last part with tears in his eyes trying to hold them back. Scott knew that his best friend had been in love with Lydia Martin since second grade. It took a while for Stiles to warm up to people. Once he latched onto you, he did not let you go. Scott thought it was his way of dealing with his mother's death. He would never tell Stiles that though. He knew that Stiles would deny it and then it would make him uncomfortable.

"Don't worry," said Scott. "We will protect her."

Scott put his arm around his best friend's shoulder and gave him a good squeeze while smiling at his best friend letting him know that it would be ok. He would do anything for him. Right now, he did not know how to help. He felt lost in all of this. He is just now getting used to being a werewolf. Now he had to find his way to protect his friends. He might not know what to do. He knew that if he did the right thing. Everything would work out. That is what his mom drilled it into his head. "Do the right thing, treat people with respect and love, and everything will work itself out." She told him that one day when he was struggling with his dad leaving them. It was the best advice he had ever gotten, and he intended to live up to it.

"Why don't you get everyone to come over to my house," stated Scott. "I will talk to Derek after school. I am sure I can talk some sense into him."

"I am not so sure," said Stiles "I mean Derek is not the, 'ok we talked, and I can see that you are right', type of guy. He is more like a, 'let me kill you and then I will ask you some questions', type of guy."

"I have to try," said Scott hoping that his best friend would understand that he was trying his best to help them. He saw that Stiles was thinking of a hundred possibilities of bad outcomes. He felt bad for his friend.

"Thanks," said Stiles. "I will gather everyone at your house. I still feel that we are overlooking something though."

Scott silently agreed with his friend. He knew that they did not have all the info. He knew they were in the dark on pretty much everything concerning the supernatural. He could not shake the feeling that much of the supernatural world had changed. He could not explain it. He just felt different after he had gotten bit by Peter. He could feel the werewolf in him, especially during the full moon. But something had changed recently. He did not know what it was. It was as if some part of himself, his wolf part - his supernatural part, was telling him that something was not right. It was kind of like when you meet someone, and you are instantly leery of them. You don't know why. Your gut tells you not to trust them. Then later, you find out that they end up on the national news, committing some sort of violent crime. And when they do the interview on the news, everyone says 'he was such a nice person'. It was that type of feeling.

"Ok, I will meet you as soon as I speak with Derek," said Scott.

Scott and Stiles walked into the cafeteria. Scott smelled something off. He could not tell exactly what it was. With his heightened his sense of smell, he could usually just smell hormonal teenagers. It was really disgusting to him. The amount of testosterone and estrogen that is given off in a high school could gag an elephant. When he was first turned, he learned to filter out smells. He was proud of himself for doing it since there was no teacher for werewolf 101. There was an unusual scent in the air.

He looked around and realized that the strong scent was coming from a certain table. Scott looked at where the table was. He saw teenagers that looked like models staring back at him. He could tell that they were not normal. He was not sure if they were supernatural though, he just knew that they smelled off?

He did not have time to dwell on some newcomers. He needed to save his friends. So, what if they smelled a little off. It did not mean that they were a threat, or maybe they could be. Scott knew that he could not devote much time and energy to figure out these newcomers. He figured everything that had happened, happened before they got here. Ruling them out as possible suspects. Deep down though, he knew it was a stupid excuse. Anyone could be the kanima.

"Let's eat in the courtyard," said Scott.

"Sure," said Stiles his eyes glued to the table where the Cullen's were. Scott looked at Stiles' eyes and could tell they were full of lust. But Scott knew that the love Stiles had for Lydia would crush anything that the newcomers could throw at him.

What concerned him most, were his senses telling him that the people sitting at the table, were extremely dangerous. It was not kind the danger that you might come by every day, but the kind of danger where you are in the presence of a predatory animal, ready to pounce.

"Are you coming?" asked Scott trying to get away from the table. He knew that he should not run. But he did not have a desire to stay in the same vicinity as the model looking people.

"Ok," said Stiles heading out to the courtyard. Still glancing back at the newcomers as he and Scott walked out.


	46. Ch03l Stefan See Twilight

**Ch03l Stefan Sees Twilight**

Stefan grabbed a lunch tray from the stack and placed it on the railing. He picked up a salad. It really couldn't be called a salad – it was just a piece of lettuce and some carrot shreds thrown on top of it. He moved down the line, not really paying attention to the food. He was not going to eat any of it anyway. He was listening to Elena talk with a blonde-haired girl and a dark-haired girl. He overheard Elena call the blonde girl, Caroline and the brunette, Bonnie. They were talking about how it was good that Elena is getting out now. Stefan did not understand why Elena getting on with her life, mattered so much to her friends. He tried to listen to Elena's response. He mainly heard Caroline talking and the other two trying to change the subject. He got the feeling that Caroline could be self-absorbed.

Elena could not see him. The area where you got your food was in a separate area from the tables were. There was a wall separating them. Students would line up on one side go through the door, pick their food and exit near the cashier at the other door. Stefan grabbed a turkey sandwich and chips to go with his salad. He also grabbed a water bottle.

Stefan paid the cashier and walked out the door. He saw Elena talking with Bonnie. She blushed slightly when she saw him and motioned to Bonnie where he was. He acted like he did not see her, but heard Bonnie call him hot. There were some other people standing near Caroline. Two guys and two girls. The guys and one of the girls looked like they were related, they had the same dark color hair and olive complexion. He knew that they were Native American. The other girl had dark brown hair with a very fair complexion. At first, he did not notice anything different about them. Then he got their scent. There was another scent underlying their human scent that he would have missed, if the air flow from the cafeteria's air conditioning unit hadn't lightly blown it towards him.

He worried about Elena. If these kids were supernatural, would they hurt her? He wanted to use his vamp speed to get to her. He could tell that the Native American's had caught his scent as well. He could see it in their facial expressions. They tried to hide their reaction from him, but it was too late. The taller guy just looked at him and nodded his head, as if to say, 'I don't want any trouble'. Stefan returned his nod with a slight one of his own, conveying the same message.

He glanced around the cafeteria looking for a place to sit, when a pungent odor hit his nostrils. He scanned the area to find the table where the scent was coming from. He narrowed it down to a table where three guys and three girls were sitting. He noticed that they were staring at him. They were dressed in the latest fashions and they were all very attractive. Stefan sensed that their attractiveness made them even deadlier. Like how the most colorful animals in the animal kingdom were the deadliest. He could tell that the people sitting at that table were dangerous and lethal.

Stefan walked away from the table that they were at. As he was headed away from the table, he walked in such a way that he did not turn his back to them. Trying not to make it obvious, he searched for a seat where his back was not towards that newcomers. He finally found a table that had just been vacated by the football team. Stefan enjoyed the game of football. He could remember when it was only played at college campuses in the Northeast. The game had surely changed since then. He liked some of the changes. But he missed the time when it was just about some guys getting together and having fun. Now, there was too much commercialism associated with it.

Stefan opened his bag of chips and ate a few. He glanced over at the newcomers and thought that he saw a look of surprise quickly cross their faces as he ate. He looked away from them and towards Elena, she was in a conversation with the pretty girl that was with the Native Americans. It was more like Caroline was monopolizing the conversation talking about shoes and fashion. He could tell the three Native Americans wanted to be anywhere but listening to her drone on about designers' names, colors, and sales. They moved forward and disappeared into the food area.

Stefan opened his bottle of water and took a sip out of it. He wished that it was alcohol. He forgot to bring some with him today. He was too excited to see Elena. He looked around the cafeteria, trying not to look at the newcomers again. He noticed that everyone kept looking over at them. He could smell the hormones coming off the guys. The area where he was sitting reeked of it. He forgot how much teenagers stink, especially when they were sexually aroused.

He saw Max. He was sitting with a blonde girl and a dark-haired boy. He thought that their behavior was odd. They did not appear to be sneaking glances at the newcomers every five minutes. It was like they did not even seem to notice that the newcomers were in the same room. It must be an alien thing. Stefan was not sure if Max was an Alien. Stefan had been alive for over 160 years and had seen some strange stuff. He had never seen aliens. There was something different about Max though. The way his blood smelled was one. The way he spoke with Liz when he said that he was not from this world, was another. It was if Max was able to take a huge weight off his shoulders.

"Is this seat taken?" asked Caroline, placing her tray in across from him and sitting down.

"No," Stefan said as Bonnie and Elena sat down beside her.

"I am Caroline," she said as she put out her hand for him to shake.

He shook her hand and turned his attention to Elena. "Aren't you the girl in the boys…"

"Yes," said Elena trying to hide her blush. She was hoping that he would have forgotten about that. "I had some issues with my brother that I had to take care of."

"You must be a great sister to care enough for your brother to follow him into the boys' restroom," Stefan said. He could tell Elena could feel his sincerity by the way her eyes teared up as if she was going to cry.

"And this is Bonnie Bennett," Caroline said as she literally grabbed her hand for Stefan to shake. Stefan shook Bonnie's hand. Bonnie got this weird look on her face and pulled her hand away quickly. Stefan could tell that she sensed something was off about him. Stefan knew she was a witch. She must be a descendant of a Bennett witch. She looked like her grandmother. Stefan remembered her when he visited here decades ago.

"Hi," said Stefan as Bonnie looked at him strangely.

"Hi…. I got…. I've got to go…. I have something I forgot to do," said Bonnie as she abruptly got up and left the table.

"Bonnie, Bonnie!" Elena called after her. "I am sorry. I am going to go check on her to see if she needs help with whatever she has to do."

Stefan was captivated by Elena. She was so unlike Katherine. Elena was caring and selfless with her friends. She truly cares about Bonnie's wellbeing. Stefan watched as she hurried after her friend. She left her lunch behind, not even caring if she ate it or not. Stefan just smiled. Then realize that Caroline was still there. She probably thought that he was smiling at her. He thought about using compulsion on her, then looked over at the model looking predators and thought better of it.

"Well, I need to go also," he said. "Nice meeting you." He got up and took his and Elena's tray to the trash. He looked around saw that the pixie model girl was looking at him. The way she looked at him made him feel that she was seeing more than just with her eyes. Stefan nodded towards her. She smiled back at him. He walked out the door hoping to catch a glimpse of Elena once more before his next class.


	47. Ch03m Girls in the Bathroom

**Ch03m Girls in the Bathroom**

Karolina traded out her books in her locker. Her bracelet hitting the inside of the door. She took a moment to look at it. She has never taken it off since she could remember. It was a gift from her mom. It represented all the great things about the church. She normally draws strength from it. The bracelet reminds her to seek the light. To trust in the light. But now it did not give her the confidence that she so desperately wanted. She needed that peace. She needed to feel that strength of a higher power guiding her.

Now when see she her bracelet she only feels hollow. Her mind was racing from what she saw her mom do. She performed some sort of ceremony. Did she really sacrifice someone? There had to be a mistake. She grew up in the church. The church that her grandfather built. Was not into hurting people. They helped people. They took in hundreds on runaways every year to help them. The church gave so much hope to people. Deep down Karolina knew that there were dark areas in the church. The church preached about the light. There were too many secrets now that the mask has been removed. Every step that took someone closer to the light was shrouded in mystery now.

Her phone began to vibrate to let her know that she got a text. She pulled out her biology book before shutting her locker. Her phone vibrated several more times to let her know she had more texts to read. 'Great I must be in a group text," she thought to herself. When she looked at her phone as she walked towards her Bio class. She saw that she had over five text messages to be read. She did not know any of the numbers. When she opened the first text message it had a picture of her. She was puking out a rainbow from her mouth. Someone wrote brainwashed in neon letters across the top of the picture.

She checked the next text and it had the same animated gif. So did the next and the rest. People could be so cruel. She was going to be strong she was not going to let this keep her down. She was not going to let their small mindlessness get her down. She deleted the text from her phone and walked towards her next class. As she passed a couple of girls, they were giggling at one of their phones. Karolina caught a glimpse of what was on the phone. It was the gif of her. She walked away from them a little faster. A boy who she did not know openly laughed at her as she walked past him. He held out his phone towards her. It was the same gif that she received.

She looked around and saw that everyone was looking at their phones then her laughing. Everyone was laughing at her. Her resolve crumbled everything she said to herself about not letting small mindless people came crashing down. She felt the tears coming to her eyes. She was mortified by the way people were treating her. She tucked her head down and headed towards the nearest girl's room.

She was thankful that there was no one else in the bathroom with her. She went into the stall and sat on the commode. She grabbed some toilet paper and let the tears flow. Tears of stupid people who did not know her. Tears of hurt that she let them get to her. Tears of frustration of trying to be the perfect person for her mom. Karolina let the tears flow. She just needed a release of all these emotions coursing through her.

The tears finally ran out. She sat there with her feet pressed against the door. She needed to get herself together. She took several deep breaths to calm herself. She tried to remember her beliefs. She tried to recall some prayers to help her in her time of stress. She just could not do it. Her mind could not focus. The only thing that her mind could focus on was her mother in that red robe with the rest of the Pride members. They killed that guy. 'Was that what going Ultra means' she thought to herself. 'Would someone have to get sacrifice for her to become Ultra. The highest level of awareness that her mother preaches from the pulpit.' She was numb to all of this. She did not know what to believe. Her eyes or what she had been taught.

She heard the bathroom's door open. She tensed up she did not want anyone to see her like this. She took in a breath trying to again calm herself again. She heard the person go towards the sink and run the water. She waited until she was sure that she could face the world before she left the stall.

She walked towards the sinks. There was Nico there putting on her make-up in the mirror. To Karolina, Nico was so pretty. She had a secret crush on her. Nico looked so sad. They used to be so close when they were younger. But, all that change when her sister died. The official ruling was suicide. Karolina could not believe it when she was told that she died. She knew that Amy, Nico sister, affected every one of their group. It mainly effective Nico the most. She started wearing dark clothes and make-up. She withdrew into herself.

"You are so pretty," said Karolina as she looked at Nico. "You don't need to hide it."

Nico turned from the mirror to face her. Karolina's heart sped up as she faced her. She was so pretty. "Some people hide behind make-up. Other behind a smile. It's still hiding." Nico said as a fake smile spread across her face.

Nico words cut her. Nico was not fooled by the mask that she wore. There was too much history with them. She could not just bat her blue eyes and give a full tooth smile that she normally gave to people to throw them off on her pain. She just stared at her. Not able to formulate a response that would make sense to Nico much less to herself.

The door opened and in walked Diana Meade. Her eyes were filled with moisture as if she was holding back tears herself. Her face had some many emotions running across it. Not one of these emotions was of joy or happiness. No, it was more of loss and grief. She looked at them trying to get a hold of her emotions under control.

"Come on in it looks like this is the place to have an emotional breakdown," said Nico.

"I am sorry did not mean to intrude," said Diana as she tried to hold back her tears. She could not stand to watch Cassie and Adam. She could see the way that he looked at her. There was a desire in his eyes. She knew that he was trying to fight against it. He would overcompensate with her. Cassie would also try to resist their attraction. Cassie was not the type of girl that went after another girl's boyfriend. No Cassie had too much respect for herself to do that.

"You are not intruding," said Karoline. "We all seemed to be having that type of day. I am having 'everyone thinks I am perfect' phase. I am the daughter of a preacher, so I get to be a goody two shoes. When I all I want to be is myself. Type of day."

"I am gothic," said Nico. "So, I must be putting on an act so that I can get attention. When my sister died not too long ago and I miss her, phase."

Karolina's heart broke when she heard Nico pain. Her pain was trivial compared with her. How could she let a meme break her? Nico has experience real loss. She was getting upset with a gif someone posted online. She felt even lower than she already did.

"I am watching my boyfriend fall out of love with me and fall in love with someone else, said Diana. "I see him trying to fight against it. But he is losing the battle. What makes this so bad. The person he is falling in love with is a good friend of mine. She tries to resist it also, but fate has played a cruel trick on us just like our parents." She said the last part under her breath. She knew that Adam and Cassie's fates were written in the stars. She wanted to believe that hers and Adam's love could overcome what fate had planned. She knew now that she was fighting a losing battle. Adam and Cassie were fighting against it also. Diana saw the writing on the wall fate would put them together, no matter what.

"Well let come and have outcry together," said Nico. "We each seem like we need it."

Again, the bathroom door opened, and Amy saw three girls holding each other in an embrace of support. She knew each other the girls in passing. She was not close to them. They were not friends nor were they enemies. They just did not hang around the same people. It broke her heart to see the three girls crying on each other.

"Ok. No, we are not going to have this," Amy said as she walked towards them. "We are strong and powerful. We are women who can take control, no matter what life throws at us."

They all looked at Amy as they broke apart. Each wiping a tear from their eye.

Karolina was the first to react. "You are correct," she said. "I should not let a couple of memes and some bullies get me down."

"That's right," said Amy. "You show those losers that you can take whatever they can dish out and not let it get to you."

"Why am I crying over a boy," said Diana trying to put on a fake smile.

"If you want Adam," said Amy. "Then fight for him. Let him know what he is going to be given up. If you don't want him, then let him go. There are plenty of good-looking guys walking around here. You are a beautiful woman. You could any guy in this school if you want."

"Thanks, Amy," said Diana.

"Well, I guess I still miss my sister," said Nico softly. She did not like to be vulnerable, especially around Karolina for some reason.

"I am sorry," said Amy. "You are still grieving. It is ok for you to feel this way."

Amy walked up to her and embraced her in a hug. Amy's hug was one of comfort and support Nico could feel. She had not been hugged like that in a while. Her walls that she had built around herself started to crumble all because of a simple hug. A hug that was meant just for her. She felt her tears start to flow down her cheeks. She felt two more pair of arms wrap around her. She could not hold back any longer as waves of emotion went through her shaking her body as she wept. After most of the intense emotions left her. Nico was able to contain herself and pull away from the embrace.

"Thanks, I needed that," Nico said. She looked at each one. Amy and Diana had sympathy in their eyes. She did not want it. She was going to say some snarky remark. When she looked into Karolina's eyes the remark coming from her lips vanished for Karolina's eyes had nothing but love for her.

"Your welcome," said Amy. "But, right now I really need to pee. I had one monster energy drink and a French Vanilla Latte. All these tears running down our faces sound like Niagara Falls to by bladder."

They all decided that it was time to break up this bonding experience. Karolina washed her face and hands. Used a paper towel to try in get the redness out of her eyes. It was no use. She just decides to tie her hair back in a tight ponytail. Amy had finished her business washed up and headed out the door. Giving each girl a smile before leaving. Diana touched up her makeup and gave Nico one more small hug before leaving. Karolina was a little bit jealous of the hug. So, she left looking back at Nico who was putting her makeup back on. Karolina gave a small smile when Nico looked at her through the mirror. Nico gave a small smile back. Karolina knew that she could face the world since Nico smiled at her.


	48. Ch04 End of the Day

**A/N**

**We are coming into chapter four. This will be the last chapter for the first day. I hope that you are enjoying it so far. I know that things still feel a little out of place. But you should start seeing more things come together. Chapter 5 will take a small turn. We get to see what the other side is doing. **

**Ch04a Teen Wolf, some Roswell**

**Ch04b Animorphs, Teen Wolf**

**Ch04c I am Number 4, Some Teen Wolf and Roswell**

**Ch04d Runaways **** TRIGGER WARNINGS ******

**Ch04e Roswell, **

**Ch04f Heroes, Mutant X**

**Ch04g Secret Circle**

**Ch04h Twilight, Covenant**

**Ch04i Covenant, Twilight**

**Ch04j I am Number, Teen Wolf, Nine Lives of Chloe King**

**Ch04k Nine Lives of Chloe King, I am Number Four, Teen Wolf**

**Ch04l Underworld, Teen Wolf**

**Ch04m Kyle XY**

**Thanks for all the likes, kudos, but would love to hear some comments. Is this fanfic terrible? What don't you like? Love to get feedback.**


	49. Ch04a The Principal's Speech

**Ch04a The Principal's Speech**

Gerard adjusted the microphone on the desk and brought it closer to him. He looked over at his reflection in the mirror hanging on the back of the door. Staring back at him was a balding, close to retiring, old man. This is what anyone else would have seen. But to Gerard, he saw a powerful and ruthless hunter, willing to do anything to kill the supernatural. Or to use them if needed. He smiled at the last part of that thought.

_"Derek Hale has much to atone for,"_ he thought to himself as he adjusted the microphone again.

"Good afternoon students, faculty, and staff. This is Principal Argent. I just wanted to introduce myself to you all, in case you don't know me yet. I am new here this year. But, don't let my newness fool you into believing that I don't care. Because I do. I know that we are going to have a successful school year this year. Our teachers and faculty are eager to assist you in reaching your full potential."

Gerard paused for a moment before continuing.

"With that being said, I want to go over some basic rules that we all need to follow in order to have a successful academic school year. First, the normal rules apply. No running in the halls, don't be late to class, and rules like turning in your homework all go without saying. These are all rules that you should have learned in elementary school. No, the rules I am talking about are; rules that govern your life and make you a better person - for yourself and society as a whole. Therefore, over the next couple of weeks, we are going to be handing out some surveys and questionnaires. These questionnaires will allow us to get a baseline on how to best serve you. So, it is very important that you fill them out. I expect everyone to fill one out and turn them in. No exceptions."

Gerard smiled to himself as he imagined the supernatural kids worrying about the survey. "I look forward to talking with each one of you after we get the results in. Now that we've gotten that out of the way, I feel I must warn you that I am a huge sports fan. Yes, I am very competitive. I was looking over our school's athletic program. It seems like we have some talent here at Beacon Hills High. I am looking forward to expanding our athletic program. I believe everyone should be mentally prepared and physically fit. I know that we can achieve not only academic success, but we could also have trophies to line our halls with. Keep up the good work. I excited to work with each one of you to reach your full potential.

Gerard released the mic button and set the mic aside. He knew that Beacon Hills High had many supernatural creatures here. He was only worried about one. That was Derek Hale. He knew that he could, with some effort, locate Derek and kill him. But he did not want to do that yet. He wanted Derek's whole pack. He wanted Derek's Alpha spark. In order to do that, he needed Derek to bite him, and then he could slaughter Derek. And then HE, Gerard, would become Alpha of the pack. The irony being, that the Hunter, becomes the Alpha

His personal laptop dinged alerting him to an incoming email.

**To His Highest Excellency – SILVER**

**Re: Follow-up, brief summary**

**Concerning what I wrote to you earlier. Our sources in the government have concluded that there was an extraterrestrial event over the mid-Atlantic region. Sources stated that there was debris containing elements not currently found on Earth (see attachment 412 for findings). People in the know have a theory. They say that a major battle was fought above us. Everyone is hush-hush on the event. There are many other plausible explanations for this (attach: 430a). **

**New players on the field (attach: 602). A Mr. Whitney of The Order wants to have a meet and greet with you. He has been vetted and others of prominence think good things could come if an alliance is made. Waiting for your insight and final approval. Airfare and accommodations have been made for you and the Matriarch. Meeting in San Francisco. Detachment has been sent earlier to prepare for your arrival. Rumor has it that Mr. Whitney has asked another possible ally to join you. A Mr. Hugh Bathory will be joining you. He is the leader of a quasi-government organization known as Ultra (attach: 615). Little is known about him. From what sources have been able to gather he likes to remain in the background. We suspect he might be an elected official. But, unconfirmed currently.**

**Update on process of new info for Bestiary.**

**The twin witches have escaped. Note: Mountain Ash does nothing to them.**

**Tracking new type of wolves in Great Britain. Ongoing. Observing for now.**

**Still unable to penetrate Paradise High information. All possible leads have been neutralized. Proceeding with severe discretion. **

**Volterra, Italy sent three tactical teams in. No response. Presume all lost. Awaiting further direction.**

**Nemeton search continues. Recruitment is up 18% YTD. We should hit our goal earlier than expected. New trainees are better trained and equipped than earlier candidates. This is good for us. But, with new enemies on the battlefield, we are not sure if our training is up to par for what we are facing. Requesting combat raids to test their ability. These might go against code. So we will need to be on a code brown status. Awaiting Authorization. **

** Agent Pearl **

Gerard closed the top of his laptop as he heard his door open. He looked up and saw his daughter-in-law Victoria coming in. Gerard was so proud that he and his late wife setup their son to marry her. Chris did not know that his mother was behind the scenes picking out the woman for him to marry. Victoria was a strong and driven leader. As the Matriarch, she has led the Argents to become royalty in the Hunter communities. When Victoria did something, other families fell in line and followed her lead. She was ruthless, and Gerard admired her for it.

His son, Chris, on the other hand, was too ridge. He held to the code too much. He did not yet know how ruthless these creatures were. He was still naïve enough to believe that each one of those creatures was accountable for their own actions. Chris did not have the experience that he had. For Gerard knew all the supernatural needed to be destroyed. The only good thing that the supernatural had to offer to pure-blooded humans, was their ability to heal and fight infection.

She came in a closed the door behind her. She looked at the laptop and raised an eyebrow at him. He looked at it then looked back at her.

"I got an email from Pearl," Gerard said. "Are you up for dinner in San Francisco?"

"Why San Francisco? With all those damn gays," said Victoria. "After we kill the supernatural can we kill them too."

"All in good time," replied Gerard as he opened the laptop and typed in his password.

"Who are we meeting there?" asked Victoria walking over to the laptop and reading the email. "Send me a copy of the attachments."

"Already done," said Gerard.

"What is the status of Derek Hale?" asked Victoria. "Have you found his betas yet?"

"Derek Hale is still hiding in fear," said Gerard with disgust in his voice. "As for his betas. We think that Isaac Lahey is one of them. We know that there are more. We have a team on him."

"What about Scott McCall?" asked Victoria. "I would love to end his life for what he did to Allison."

"Don't you think it is about time Allison came into the family business?" said Gerard. "She is well past the age where we need to train her."

"We… Chris thought it would be best if we kept her away from this for as long as we can," said Victoria. "Chris wants to baby her. I know that she is daddy's little girl. But he does need to cut the apron's strings."

"Chris has too much morality in him. He was always trying to do the right thing," said Gerard. "Now Kate, she was a risk-taker. She would seize the moment. She had great instincts. She could go for the kill and not hesitate to bring justice. Not worrying about the morals of the supernatural world, whether they killed or not. We know that they all will be killers eventually. Why wait? Let's just kill them before they kill us."

"My husband is a good man," said Victoria. "But he has sheltered our daughter for too long. Allison knows that we are hunters. I think that we need to teach her our family history and get her some proper training. Speaking of daughters, have you found Kate yet?"

"No," said Gerard. "I am not sure if she has changed into a monster or if the monsters have taken her away."

"If is the former," said Victoria.

"Then she is dead," Gerard said without any hesitation in his voice. "If it is the latter. I will kill whoever took her body."

Victoria smiled at the response. Gerard could not tell if it was a smile that said she believed him or was it one saying she didn't. Victoria had a great poker face. She never let her face give you any indication as to what was really going on inside her head. When she let you see her emotions, it was because she wanted you to see them. She was more than his son deserved. What he could do with a woman like that beside him. He let the thought die. He knew that if something happened to his son, he would be the first one in to console the grieving widow.

"By the way, there is an undercover FBI agent working at this school," she said.

Gerard heard through some of his contacts that the FBI was doing an informal inquiry. Normally, that would just include the tech guys running surveillance from Quantico. There had to be something up if there was a field rep in the school.

"Oh?" said Gerard waiting for Victoria to provide more information. He could tell that she was not going to be more forthcoming in her answer. "I take it you know who it is."

"Yes," she said.

Now she was just being a bitch towards him. She loved to play games of power and one up man-ship. He was aggravated with her and the smile on her face let him know that she knew he was aggravated and that she had won this little game of hers.

"The new Guidance Counselor, Topolsky," she said with a smirk of victory on her face. "I checked with our contacts in the FBI. They have no clue why she is here. The story that they were informed of, was that an international drug cartel was setting up shop in Beacon Hills."

"Drugs?" asked Gerard. He knew who the local drug dealers were. They were low-level players nothing that would warrant a field agent to come in. Except maybe to tell the local police.

"Yes, drugs," said Victoria. "That was the story that our contact was told. We both know that was a lie."

"But, now that we know she is here," he said cutting her off. He had to get his licks in where he could. "Maybe we can use this to our advantage."

"Let's wait until we have determined what she is really doing here," said Victoria. "We need to make sure all our operatives know that she is here and plan accordingly."

"I will have them informed. Are you concerned with anything in particular?" asked Gerard.

"If she is here for what our contacts have told us, make sure that those operators take all precautions," said Victoria. "I would hate to see some of our funding dry up. Especially, since we are in a hiring and training season."

Gerard just shook his head acknowledging what she said. He knew that Hunters made most of their money through arms trading. It just so happened that sometimes their clientele just happened to be drug dealers. Not all deals go down as planned, when they don't, that leaves room for a new player in the pharmaceutical business. Gerard picked up his cell phone and dialed a number as he watched Victoria leave his office.

"Yes, wrap the package in blue," said Gerard and hung up the phone. That took care of the Hunter's illegal business transactions. Now, to the business of killing Derek Hale. He knew that Derek was avoiding breaking any of the codes that the Hunters had established. He did not kill anyone, except his daughter Kate. He knew that there was an Alpha werewolf that went on a rampage and killed innocent people. He knew that the Alpha that killed his daughter was not Derek. But that did not matter. Derek represented the filth of their kind and he needed to pay for all their sins.

But before he killed Derek, Gerard needed to use him first. He wanted Derek to build his pack. He needed Derek to be focused on the Kanima. Gerard knew that if he could play his cards just right, he would be Alpha of Derek's pack and in control of a Kanima. Yes, things were going as planned and he was pleased with it. Soon, he would be in control of the Hunters and the supernatural. A smile spread across his face as he thought about being king.

The knock on the door removed it, as he watched Victoria poke her head in the office. "Excuse me, Principal Argent. There is a Sheriff Valenti and his deputy here to see you," she said in a voice that told him that she did not have a clue why they were here.

"Thank you, Victoria," he said as he got up and went towards the door. He did not want to keep the Sheriff and his deputy waiting.

"Hi, I am Principal Argent," said Gerard holding out his hand. "How may I be of assistance to you?"

"Hi, Sheriff Jim Valenti, and this is Deputy Hanson," said Sheriff Valenti shaking Gerard's hand. "I was wondering if I could speak with Ms. Liz Parker? There was an incident at the Crash Down Café and I just need to ask her a couple of questions."

"I heard about it on the news. That someone fired a gun in her dad's café," said Gerard. "I hope that everyone is ok."

"Yes, everyone is fine," replied Sheriff Valenti.

"She is in portable number 12," said Victoria who had pulled up Liz' schedule as she listened to the Sheriff and Gerard talk.

"Here let me lead the way," said Gerard coming from around the office partition and leading them out the door. "Victoria, will you let Mr. Harris know to keep Liz Parker there in the classroom?"

Victoria got on the phone and spoke to Mr. Harris as the Sheriff and Deputy followed him out. After they had left, Victoria got on her computer and started to research Elizabeth Parker and her family.


	50. Ch04b Are There More Than One Morph

Ch04b Are There More Than One Morph

Cassie closed her locker and headed out the door of the school. She was going to meet up with Jake and the rest of the gang. She was secretly there to see Jake. _"He was so caring and always trying to do the right thing."_ she thought. She often wondered why she was drawn to the 'boy scout' type guy. A guy who was confident, strong, and always trying to do the right thing. _"Stop it,"_ she told herself. She reminded herself that they were in a war and that she didn't have time for a relationship.

"Hi Marco," said Cassie as she met him in front of the school. "Where are the others?"

"Jake said that Tobias and Ax are going to meet us behind the bleachers," said Marco slinging his backpack over his shoulder and walking towards the football field.

"_Things are just weird."_ She heard Rachel say in thought-speak also.

"_What is weird_?" thought-spoke Cassie as she and Marco walked towards the bleachers.

"_Rachel thinks that some of the new kids have to be Controllers,_" answered Jake.

"_Did you see the Cullen gang,"_ stated Rachel going into her lecture mode. "_They had this kind of allure. Everyone was drawn to them. It is a perfect setup for the Yeerks. I mean all they have to do is engineer some humans, that everyone wants to be around, and before you know it, you are having more people at the Sharing. Getting slugs put into their ears and becoming Controllers._"

Cassie knew that what Rachel was saying was true. She did not know if the Yeerks could engineer humans though. She would have to ask Ax about it. From what she knew, the Yeerks plan was to take over the leadership of a planet first, then work their way towards the rest of the populace. Did this mean that the Yeerks were already in control of the planet? She did not want to think about it. Those thoughts would not go away though, as she and Marco headed towards the bleachers to meet up with the others.

_"Hey guys, someone, is coming_," thought-spoke Tobias.

They saw Boyd walking across the field and stop in the middle of it. He was standing there looking like he was trying to hear something. They saw him quickly look down the field. They followed his gaze and saw Scott McCall was walking towards him.

"Boyd wasn't in class today," said Marco.

"Yeah, I did not see him all day either and we have two classes together," said Rachel. "What is he doing here now?"

"_I'm going to get a better look,"_ thought-spoke Tobias as he took off from the top of the bleachers where he was perched. His falcon form taking him high in the sky effortlessly. Even though he was high up, he could see everything clearly. Falcons have superior eyesight.

"I'm going to get closer so that I can hear what they are saying," said Rachel as she morphed into a moth and flew off towards Boyd and Scott.

_"Be careful,"_ thought-spoke Cassie. She did not want Rachel to get swatted like a bug, even though she was a bug. One of the risks that they had to endure while morphed into small animals or bugs is that can become prey to larger animals or get squashed by people.

They watched as Scott approached Boyd. The boys sized each other up as if they were gladiators getting ready to go into the arena to do battle. Boyd was bigger than Scott, but this did not seem to intimidate Scott, whose presence was even more dominating than Boyd's - if that were possible.

_"Scott wants to talk to someone named Derek,"_ thought-spoke Rachel as she flew near them, close enough to hear their conversation, but out of arms range. _"But Boyd told him to talk with him instead."_

"Scott wants to talk with Derek Jones?" asked Marco. "Could Derek be a new Vizzer?"

_"I am not sure, but we need to check out this Derek guy to find out,"_ thought-spoke Jake. They were still hidden under the bleachers hoping that Boyd or Scott would not see them.

They watched as Scott just tackled Boyd in the middle of the football field. Boyd was caught off guard and was flat on his back with Scott over him. It looked like Scott had used one of his Lacrosse moves to take him down.

"That is going to hurt," winced Marco.

"_Shh, you are being too loud," _thought spoke Cassie afraid that Boyd or Scott would hear them.

_"Guys, someone is coming really, really fast,"_ thought-spoke Tobias.

They watched as a guy with dark hair just seemed to appear near Boyd and Scott. They saw Boyd get off the ground. He had the look of someone plotting payback when he looked at Scott. His eyes seemed to avert lower when he looked at the new guy. Almost like he was being submissive to the new guy.

_"The guy, who I am assuming is Derek, who is also very hot, is saying that someone failed a test,"_ thought-spoke Rachel. _"Scott is saying that whatever the test is that it doesn't prove anything."_

_"This is weird,"_ thought-spoke Marco.

"_How fast do you think he was going?" _asked Ax.

"_I saw him get out of the black Camaro, He stood there for a few minutes," _thought-spoke Ax. _Really was not paying attention to him. I was watching Scott tackle Boyd, Then I saw him moving way faster than anyone I know."_

_"Guys, Scott is talking about someone named Lydia,"_ thought-spoke Rachel interrupting their conversation. _"Derek said that she turns into a homicidal walking snake. Scott is afraid that he is going to kill her. Then, Derek said that he wasn't going to do it, but he alluded that someone else might."_

They watched as Scott starts to run towards the school, but see Boyd tackle him to the ground. Boyd had a smirk on his face as he watched Scott grimace in pain.

_"That is also going to leave a mark,"_ thought-spoke Marco this time.

_"Looks like Boyd didn't like Scott getting the first hit in,"_ thought-spoke Jake back_. "Ax, you have been quiet throughout this. Do you have any thoughts; do you think that they are Controllers?"_

_"I am not sure,"_ thought-spoke Ax looking at the three guys intently. _"Yeerks normally don't attack each other like this. They are more into political power plays than outright aggression."_

_"So, are you saying that they might not be Yeerks?"_ thought-spoke Jake.

_"No Prince Jake,"_ thought-spoke Ax _"I am saying I am not sure."_

Jake hated when Ax called him Prince Jake. He tried to get Ax to call him Jake, but Ax would only call him Jake if others who were not gifted with morphing abilities were around. When it was only the gang around though, he would be referred to as Prince Jake. He was not sure what the others felt about it. He was not trying to be their leader. They just automatically looked to him to be one. He did not know how to lead a fight against an invading alien army. All he wanted to do was protect his family and friends.

_"Guys they are talking about morphing,"_ thought-spoke Rachel to the group. _"Derek said something about Lydia turning into a snake and killing people. Scott argued with him that Derek needs to give him some time to figure things out. Derek said something about her being bitten by an Alpha and that it must be her. He also mentioned something about them being shapeshifters, and that the shape that you take reflects the person you really are."_

_"Oh, wow this is so weird,"_ thought-spoke Marco to the group. _"Do they have morphing ability?"_

"_Ax could there be another Andalite on the planet_ _that we don't know about?" _asked Jake

"_As far as I know," _thought-spoke Ax. _"My father only sent me and my brother here to Earth." _

Jake reached over and squeezed Ax's shoulder trying to give him some comfort over the loss of his brother. When Elfangor's ship crash-landed on Earth, he was the one they got their morphing abilities from. Without Elfangor's sacrifice, the world would already be taken over by the Yeerks.

They watched as Scott took off towards the school. The other two looked at each other and started talking and looking around. _"Guys I think that they know that we are around,"_ thought-spoke Rachel to them. _"You better Morph."_

They all decided to Morph into cats so that if they were seen it would look like a mother cat with her kittens. They morphed just in time. As Derek was looking at the exact spot where they were hidden at. He stared at them for a few minutes, his nostrils flaring as if he was trying to catch their sent. They were relieved as both Boyd and Derek walked towards the black Camaro. Every few steps Derek would keep looking towards where they were. As if he knew someone was there but could not see them. His nostrils flared and he wrinkled his nose one last time before he and Boyd got into the car and drove away.

_"Guys, I am going to follow the car to see where they are headed,"_ thought-spoke Tobias.

_"Be extra careful Tobias,"_ thought-spoke Jake. _"We don't know if they have guns or other weapons."_

Rachel flew back under the bleachers and morphed back into her human self. The others did the same. They all looked at each other with concern in their faces.

"So, what does this mean?" asked Cassie. "How can Derek move that fast?"

"It was weird," said Rachel. "It was like I was listening to an inside joke, but I still did not know what the joke was."

"What went on exactly? asked Jake.

"For some reason, Scott thinks that Derek and Boyd are going to kill Lydia," said Rachel.

"You think that they mean Lydia Martin?" asked Marco. "Man, they can't kill her she is hot."

Rachel just rolled her eyes at Marco's behavior. She could not believe that Derek actually said that he was going to kill her. She was not a friend of Lydia. Lydia was a stuck-up bitch. She was pretty and used her looks to get what she wanted. Deep down inside though, Rachel was envious of Lydia. She seemed to be strong and confident. Even though Rachel could Morph into any animal she touched, she was still nervous around guys that she thought were cute, except for Tobias. Lydia did not seem to have that problem. She could walk into a room looking like she just rolled out of bed and still be confident in herself.

"Why would they want to kill Lydia?" asked Cassie giving Marco the get serious "stare."

"The Derek guy called her a cold-blooded killer," said Rachel.

"You think that she is the one that has been killing people recently?" questioned Cassie

"What did they say about morphing?" inquired Ax.

"They didn't call it morphing. He called it shapeshifting," said Rachel.

"The guy Derek stated that she had gotten bit by an Alpha. And that sometimes, you took on the shape that represents the true you, but that it was rare. Scott didn't seem convinced though. He said something about Jackson, which seemed to cause Derek some aggravation," said Rachel.

"I think that Jackson and Lydia are a couple," stated Cassie.

"What does it mean to be bitten by an Alpha?" asked Ax looking at Jake.

"I am not sure," said Jake. "But usually if someone is bitten, it is usually by a wolf and that person turns into a werewolf."

"Werewolf?" stated Ax.

"Half man, half-wolf," stated Marco. "If you were bitten by a werewolf on the full moon you turn into a werewolf and can't control yourself and kill people. But those are just ghost stories and superstition. There are no such things as werewolves, vampires, or witches."

"I am sure that the worst that will happen to you if you get bitten by a wolf," said Jake. "Is that you could get rabies and die."

"Hey, the cheerleaders, are coming out to practice," said Jake. "I think we need to move this to Cassie's before anyone sees us."

"Can't we just stay here for a little while?" asked Marco, watching the cheerleaders come onto the field.

"Why? So, we can watch you drool?" Rachel asked, teasing him. They grabbed their stuff and walked out from behind the bleachers and onto the track heading towards one of the exits.

"When Tobias comes back, we need to discuss adding Derek to our patrols," said Jake. "I'm still concerned about how he moved so fast."

Everyone groaned a little they were already covering a large territory. They were all tired. The constant looking for the Yeerks and their pools with their Kandrona Rays. Kandrona Rays are naturally produced by the Yeerks' home sun. Without the Kandrona Rays, the Yeerks would die. Every three days the Yeerk must leave its host and go into a pool to absorb Kandrona Rays. This is how the Animorphs were able to fight them. Once they knew that someone was a Controller, they would follow that person to find out where the pool was at. They would destroy the equipment that made the Kandrona Rays, thus killing the Yeerks free the people.

"Guys, we cannot forget about the Cullens," said Cassie. This caused another loud groan from Marco and Rachel this time.

"Look guys," said Jake. "I know that we are all tired. We know that the Yeerks are still here. The last time we destroyed a Kandrona Pool was, what three months ago? We have not heard or seen anything from them since. Then suddenly, some new kids arrive at school. They are all beautiful and they have this alluring thing going on with them. Like they want you to get close to them. I don't know about you, but I feel that something is not right with them. Then we see Derek run faster than anyone else can. He is talking about morphing and Lydia killing people."

"We are with you Prince Jake," said Ax breaking stopping his tirade.

"I am sorry," said Jake apologetically. "It just seems like things have changed around here. I feel like we are missing something and the Yeerks have out-smarted us."

"Don't worry Prince Jake," said Marco this time trying to lighten the mood. He knew that Jake's brother was a controller and that he and Jake were close before the Yeerk took control of him. "We will figure this out and save everyone and then we will kick some Yeerks' ass. Teach them to come to our planet."

Jake thanked his best friend with a nod. He knew that Marco did not need to hear it out loud. But he was thankful that whenever the responsibility of what they were facing seemed to overwhelm him, Marco could always be there to help lighten Jake's mood.

They all got into Cassie's car and drove to her parent's ranch. Trying to come up with a plan that would allow them to patrol the area and investigate both Derek and the Cullen's. Rachel was not paying too much attention to what was being said. She was thinking about a certain hawk-boy name Tobias. She was hoping that he was extra careful. Derek had intimidated her, and she did NOT like feeling like that at all. What she did not mention to the others, was that when she was near him in her moth morph, there was a powerful presence about him. She did not understand why she felt that way. She just knew that he was highly dangerous. It almost reminded her of what she felt in the woods. The desire to tell the others about it was strong. She didn't though, as she knew that they already had so much on their plates. She did not want to add more to it. She would wait until she talked to Tobias to see if he felt the same way. If he did, then they could bring it up to the rest of the group together.


	51. Ch04c Six Overhears the Sheriff

Ch04c Six Overhears the Sheriff

When the bell rang, Six got up and left out the door with the other kids. She surveyed the area looking for any threats. Years of training has always allowed her to keep her guard up. Her next class was a study period which was in the library. She wasn't going there though. No, she decided that she was going to run a perimeter sweep around the school, after she did a little recon inside the school itself. She needed to find convenient places to stash weapons. When the Mogs attacked Paradise High, she wished that they had had more weapons. Luckily, Sam was able to use one of the Mogs blasters. She was worried about the Mogs attacking again, and she wanted to be ready. They got lucky last time when they were attacked. This time she wanted more than luck to be on their side. She knew that there must be humans helping the Mogs, some could even be in the Beacon Hills High School. Sam had the computer running background checks on the faculty, staff, and even the students. She knew that the Mogs were getting more aggressive in their search for her fellow Loriens. The last time, they attacked the Paradise High at night. She feared that the next time, they might openly attack in broad daylight. She did not want to think of the death toll if that happened.

The crystal that they received from Sam's father, allowed her and Four locate the other Loriens. She just could not understand why any Lorien would want to be in Beacon Hills. But it said that there were Loriens here. Now she and Four had to find them before the Mogs did. Originally, she did not want to go back to school, she thought that it was a bad idea. She still remembered the arguments that she had with Sam. He thought that the best way to hide from the Mogs was in plain sight. She and Mark thought that needed to stay away from public places and lay low. Four and Sarah agreed with Sam. That hiding in plain sight might work. So far, the Mogs had been able to find everyone who had gone off the grid, so to speak. So, now they are in Beacon Hills. Going back to school and trying to fit in.

They did their research before they came. There were some strange occurrences that happened around here. This area was an abnormality to her and the others. There seemed to be a recent uptake in animal attacks around here. So far, they were not able to hack into the Sheriff's station computers to find out more specifics about the attacks. These animal attacks had only just recently increased in the last year or so. She was not afraid of any animal on Earth, well not too much anyway. A lion or tiger might give her pause for concern, but there were none around here, unless you counted the zoo. No, she was worried that these attacks might be a creature that the Mogs brought with them to hunt her and the other Loriens down. She hoped that the Mogs were not training it to hunt humans. She did not want to see her adopted world fall to the Mogs.

When she was a little girl, her Cepan, Katarina, would tell her how beautiful and wonderful her planet, Lorien was. How the people were at peace and tried to help others. How the sky was a stunning, majestic blue, the beauty of the waterfalls, and the splendor of the forests. Six would fall asleep listening to Katarina describe Lorien in detail. She would dream about her home planet in such vivid colors, as if she was really there, instead of just in her dreams. But the Mogs came and destroyed it all. She did not want this to happen to Earth as well. Earth had its fair share of problems, but she would be damned if she did not do everything in her power to stop them from taking over her adopted home world.

Six walked towards her locker. She passed two maintenance guys installing some video surveillance gear at the junction of the two hallways. She noticed that the cameras were of high quality. These were not the cheap cameras that only took grainy videos or blurry pictures. No, this type were the ones that could do facial recognition, track a target, and was equipped with night vision. She and her Cepan used this type to protect their property whenever they would stay in one place for more than a couple of days. She wondered how the school could afford such expensive cameras. She looked at the two maintenance guys that were installing them. She noticed that they both wore dark blue Dickie's coveralls. These were the kind that you could purchase from any local retailer or online store. The guy on the ladder was packing a side arm on his left side and another gun on his left ankle. She was sure that he had a knife strapped to the other leg. The other guy carried his gun on his back flank. She could not tell if he had any more weapons on him, but she would not be surprised if he did. There was something strange about them. She could tell they were trained, probably ex-military or police. The one on the ladder looked over at her and checked her out from head to toe. She would love to have shown him that a Lorien woman does not take kindly to that, instead she just gave him the 'not in your dreams' looked. He just looked at her a smiled like he took it as a challenge.

Six closed her locker after putting her stuff away, trying to ignore the armed pervert on the ladder. She did not get why guys like to check out girls, she had known girls who like to check out guys too though. It used to creep her out when they did it her. Now that she was used to it, she paid no real attention to them. Unless she got creeper a vibe from them, then she might have to put someone in their place. She did not understand humans sometimes. Loriens fell in love with one, and only one, person in their lifetime. Humans seem to fall in and out of love every other day, especially in school. When she attended middle school, the other kids thought that she was asexual because she showed no interest in anyone. She would get frustrated with some of the girls in middle school. They would make a big deal about some boy that they were dating. They would be in so much love and ready to marry him. Then next week they would be broken up, the girl would act like her life was over. Then one or two weeks later they would have another boyfriend again, and then the cycle would start over again. The boys were not any better. No, when it came to love she preferred the Lorien method to the human's way of falling in love.

Six walked into the girl's restroom, right before the last bell rang announcing the start of the last class of the day. There would be on more bell in a minute letting the teacher know that they could close their doors. Any student coming in after the last bell would need to go to the office and get a tardy slip. Six was not concerned with being tardy. She was not going to her last class anyway; she was glad that the last period of the day for her was study hall. She looked around the bathroom to make sure that no one else was in there with her. She used her Legacy and went invisible. She needed to scout this place out.

She walked out of the restroom as silently as possible. Even though she was invisible this did not mean that people could not hear her. It took her years of training, but she finally mastered the art of stealth. She could walk on dry leaves and would barely be heard. She walked back to where the maintenance men were installing the cameras. They were just finishing setting up the cameras at this junction of the hallway and moving on to set up more equipment at the other end of the hallway. It looked like they knew how to install cameras that would cover every angle if need be. This made her think that the Mogs might be behind this. She needed more information on these maintenance men. She took out her phone, which happened to be invisible also. She could see it, but no one else could, and took a couple of pictures of the guys. She would give them to Sam to run a background check. She put her phone away and walked away to do more recon before she jumped to any conclusions.

She stayed near the maintenance guys for few minutes trying to see if they could tell her any information about why they were putting these cameras up. One guy just talked about how if he was in high school right now. He would be getting so many women to have sex with him. Six moved on when he started getting graphic on what he would do to them. He was a total perv. It took everything for her not to go cut his junk off. The other guy just half-heartily listened to his fellow co-worker. He kept looking around very nervously, as if the boogey man were to jump out and get him.

Six walked away from the two maintenance guys, who could not be just typical maintenance guys. She headed towards the science wing of the school. Most of the teachers had their doors shut, so she could not go inside the classes without exposing herself. She just looked in on them through the door, each door had one window in it. They had a lattice over the glass to make it so that each door had nine small windows instead of just one big window. She looked in to see if she could spot anything out of the ordinary or anything that would let her know if the Mogs have been around. She could not understand how anyone could join in with that hateful race. Some humans were despicable. Then others, like Sam were wonderful to be around. She shook her head. She did not need to be thinking about Sam right now. She knew that Lorien only fell in love once. She knew that she liked Sam, but she was not sure if he was the one. She needed to ask Four how he knew that Sarah was the one for him. A blind man could see how he was smitten by her. Six did not think that she could be so captivated by someone else like Four was with Sarah. They were too sappy for her sometimes.

Six looked in another classroom. She saw the teacher writing on the chalkboard. The students looked bored. There was a guy with bronze-hair and golden eyes in the class, Six could tell that something was off with him. She first saw him and the others that were like him in the lunchroom. Something that irked her, was how Sam reacted when he saw the blonde female. She did not know why it irked her. Deep down inside though, she knew she wanted Sam to look at her that way. The bronze-haired guy was looking at her, she got a feeling that he knew that she was there. She was not one hundred percent sure but if she was a betting woman, she would bet he knew that she was there. He was sniffing the air slightly Six could tell, as if he tried not to make it noticeable. She thought that this might be a Legacy that he had. She was not sure if super sense of smell was a Legacy or not. But his eyes never left the door when she was standing there looking through it. She moved away from the door waited about ten seconds and then moved back to look in the classroom. When she did, the bronze-haired guy would look at her. She did it three more times and each time the guy would look at her. The last time he even smiled at her. He must be one of the Garde. She tempered her happiness; he could be a Mog also. She did it one more time, this time the guy did not look at her. He was busy doing his worksheet that the teacher had passed out. Six was relieved in a way but, at the same time disappointed. She knew it was too good to be true to be able to find another Garde member on the first day of school.

Six continued down the hallway, looking into each classroom. In each room, she saw the same setup. Teacher's desk near the door and blackboard, students' desks in rows facing the blackboard. Several of the inner classroom had spare rooms that adjoined them. She knew that was where the school stored most of the chemicals. Most of them were inert and did not do much, but some were viable in making an explosive device that would kill a Mog. The last incident with the Mogs, she and Four barely survived. She needed to thank Bernie Kosar for his heroic act. He took on a Piken all by himself.

Six continued on, heading towards the gym. She was hoping that there were some hiding places or at least another access point to the basement area. She knew that this school had a basement for the furnace. The entrance was located near the gym. She hoped that there was another entrance away from the gym area, an escape option would be nice to have.

Once Six got near the gym she could hear the bouncing of basketballs on the court. She assumed that the kids were already divided up into teams for basketball. She neared the entrance and saw one of the cheerleaders talking to a brown-haired guy. She wanted to go into the gym, but the way that they were standing made it so that she would have to go in between them. She could do it but there was something about the brown-haired guy. He seemed dangerous. She could not but her finger on it. He looked like an apex predator ready to pounce.

"So, Elena you are on the cheerleading squad," the brown-haired guy said, stating the obvious.

"Yes, I used to love it before. Now I am giving it another try," said Elena. "I am 'getting back out there' as my friends would say."

"You won't be sad forever," said the brown-haired guy.

Six could tell that he was speaking from the heart. The inflection in his voice told her that he had personal experience with grief. Lorien also experience grief differently than humans. A Lorien's grief was more of a longing, it hurt, but did not send them into a depression. Humans on the other hand, the grief seemed to be felt deeper, almost hurtful in some cases. As if it was a wound that could never be healed.

"Stefan, do you like football?" asked Elena. Six could tell that she was trying to change the subject.

"Yes, I enjoy the sport." Said Stefan.

"You should totally join the team," said Elena.

"I don't know," said Stefan. "It goes against my mysterious loner guy."

"Come on. Please?" said Elena

"I don't think some of the team members would want me on the team," said Stefan.

"Look, Matt and I are just friends," said Elena. "We were really good friends who tried to see if there was anything more than that. We tried it and it did not work."

"Well I don't know," said Stefan.

"Well, I know that the team could really use some help," said Elena as she finally walked into the gym.

Stefan followed her, Six followed them, but stopped abruptly. Stefan suddenly stopped in front of her and turned his face towards her. Black veins appeared around his eyes, there was a hunger in his eyes. Six reached for her diamond blade dagger. She watched as Stefan closed his eyes and seemed to concentrate and the veins slowly disappeared. She did not know what triggered him to show his veins. Could he be another Lorien with a Legacy that she did not know about? She was not sure. She looked around the gym. The kids were all looking at a boy who had a busted nose. Looked like he got hit in the face with the basketball, hard. There was blood running down his face and staining his shirt.

Six quickly moved out the way as the boy was rushed past her on his way to the nurse's station. When she looked back, Stefan and Elena were gone. She walked around the gym looking behind the bleachers to see if there were any vents or doors that were hidden. She did not find any. She went to the girls' locker room. But still no luck. There were overhead vents that she could use to hide weapons in them. The only problem with that, was that they were too high for a normal human to reach without a ladder. She needed something that Sam, Mark, or Sarah could get access too without difficulty. She went to the boys' locker room and found the same setup. She did notice that there was only one door that led the basement.

Six surveilled the basement. The school also used it to store school supplies. There was a furnace there that she could rig to blow if necessary. There were several places to hide weapons and supplies if needed. The only concern she had was that there was only one entrance and exit. She needed a place where they could run to if cornered and escape if surrounded. This was not the place.

Six made her way outside to the athletic fields. She did not see anywhere that would make a reasonable stash place without someone discovering it. Unless she wanted to bury their weapons and supplies in the baseball field. There were not any good spots near the dugouts or bleachers. She did notice that there were cameras posted on the corners of the bleachers. What was surprising was that one camera was pointed away from the field. Whoever set these cameras up went through a lot of hassle to make sure that there were no gaps in the video's field of view.

Six took off in a run. She needed to burn off some of this misplace anxiety that had been building up. She needed to clear her mind. She ran around the track a couple of times at top speed trying to get her mind to focus. But thoughts of Mogadorians, possibly finding the Garde, and for some reason Sam, kept interfering with her ability to look for places to stash weapons and supplies. If the Mogs hit her now she would be dead. She was thankful that she could not die until after Four and Five, they had to die before her, according to the enchantment placed on them before they left their home planet of Lorien. She was thankful for the enchantment. The Mogs had to kill the Garde in chronological order for them to win the war. She was not sure why Lorien had done it that way, but for some reason the Mogs were religious about killing them in order. She was not even sure if the enchantment was real. She figured that if the Mogs could find her, she would die. Regardless of the order that they were supposed to. She was worried about Four. He was the next one of the Garde to be killed. Number One, Two, and Three had already been killed. She could tell that he was worried about it also.

Her Cepan, when she was alive, would tell her about Lorien. How it had a spirit and that her race was able to live in harmony with it. The planet or the spirit of her planet was an entity. It was said that the Lorien were the first to venture out into the stars. Her people were the ones who first made contact with the Mogadorians. At first everything was fine between the races. The Loriens helped the Mogadorians cure diseases and help them end their food shortages. Then something happened. They attacked and conquered her planet. Lorien had always bestowed gifts and abilities on a select few individuals. These gifted people became known as the Garde, they had trainers (non-gifted people), called Cepan, to help and guide them. The Garde is very powerful, and she was not sure how the Mogadorians had been able to conquer them. Now, they are here on Earth to completely wipe the inhabitants on this planet out. She was not going to let that happen.

After finishing her laps, she noticed that a police cruiser had pulled up to the school. She watched as two officers got out and went into the school. Six, still invisible, went in right after them. She was thankful the one of the doors was ajar. She looked around and saw that no one was around. She only had to move the door maybe two inches to squeeze through. She was thankful the cameras were not operational yet. She walked towards the main office and could see the police officers talking with the principal and a short dark-haired lady, whom Six presumed was the principal's secretary. She was busy looking something up on the computer. She said something, but even with Six's enhanced hearing she could not make it out. But whatever it was that she said, made Principal Argent come around the counter and head out the door with the officers following behind. Six moved out of the way, and then followed behind them, as the principal led them to where they needed to go.

"So, Sheriff," said Principal Argent. "I hear that there are three sheriffs in the county of Beacon Hills."

"Yes," said the Sheriff. "I am the Sheriff of Beacon County. Noah Stilinski is the Sheriff of the City of Beacon Hills, and Elizabeth Forbes is the Sheriff at large."

"With all of those sheriffs," said Gerard. "Is it crowded when you are trying to do your work. I mean doesn't it just add more red tape to your job?

"Not really," said the sheriff. "We actually work really well together. It is nice to share the burden of leadership with other like-minded people. We all are on the same page when it comes to keeping our communities safe."

The principal led them into an empty classroom. Six made sure that she was in the classroom before they could close the door.

"I will go get Ms. Parker," said the principal.

"Thank you," said the sheriff.

Six waited with Sheriff Valenti and Deputy Hanson as stated on their nametags. They sat in silence not saying anything. She watched as the sheriff pulled out a large manila envelope that he had stuffed into his jacket and laid it in front of him on the table. Six had picked up on some tension between the principal and the sheriff as they kept up polite conversation as they walked to the classroom. It was if they did not trust each other. Six dismissed it as some sort of human male need for dominance. She supposed that the principal felt threatened by having law enforcement in an area under his purview. She could not understand humans sometimes. Sam never acted that way towards Mark, or even Four for that matter. He did not see them as threats to his domain. But then, Sam was a different type of human. He endured much from his stepfather and mother. Not to mention the bullying that happened at his last school. He rose above it, and now he was a fierce warrior. Protecting Four, her, and all the others also. She was sure that he would protect them from any Mogadorian if they were to attack.

"Here she is," said Principal Argent as he led a petite brown-haired girl into the empty band room. She was pretty with her long brown hair. Six thought that they have a class together. She wasn't sure though, since her first day had been about casing the school for threats and possible places to hide weapons and supplies, not trying to remember everyone's name.

"Hi, Ms. Parker. I am Deputy Hanson," said the deputy speaking for the first time. "Sheriff Valenti and I need to ask you some questions about what happened over the weekend at the Crash Down Café."

Six could tell that the girl was very uncomfortable. She looked nervous and anxious. Six felt sorry for her.

"Here. Come sit down over here," said Principal Argent as he pulled out a seat across from the sheriff.

Liz slowly walked towards the chair and sat down. "Am I in trouble?"

"No, no," said the Sheriff. "We have to do a follow up with what happened over the weekend. Whenever there is a shooting, it causes more paperwork for me." The sheriff punctuated his last remark with a sigh. As if there were more shootings going on in Beacon Hills than what was reported. "Is it ok if I call you Liz?"

"Oh ok," said Liz. "But I thought that I already gave my statement to the other police officer."

"You did," said Sheriff Valenti. "We are just trying to tie up any loose ends, if there are any. Just to let you know I did speak with your father earlier. He said that he was ok with us speaking with you again, if that makes you feel any better."

Liz just shrugged her shoulders. Not really feeling any better that her dad knew that she was being questioned by the police.

"I know that what you went through must have been very traumatic for you," said Sheriff Valenti. "It is terrifying when a crazed gunman comes in and shoots up the place. I am so sorry that you had to experience something like that."

"Thank you," said Liz.

"I have something to show you. I know that it will be hard to see," said the sheriff. "I am only showing you these because my son Kyle said that he remembered seeing something on you that was similar to a case that I have been working on. Now if my memory serves me correct, you and Kyle were pretty serious last school year."

"Yes," said Liz feeling uncomfortable. "We took a break over the summer."

"Yeah, that is what he said also," said the Sheriff. "I am not here to ask about your love life. I remember how it was to be in high school. No, Kyle mentioned something that piqued my curiosity. I am sorry that I have to show you these."

The sheriff pulled out several pictures. To Six it looked like a dead body on an autopsy table. There was a silver handprint on the person in the picture. Six could see the picture. Even though she knew it was an old picture. The silver handprint was vivid to her Lorien's eyesight. It was as if the silver was alive in the picture. She knew that the handprint was put on by an alien. She was not sure if it was a Lorien or a Mogadarian.

"This man was found dead, no apparent cause of death. Except that," said Sheriff Valenti pointing to the handprint. "What do you make of that mark?"

Liz picked up the picture to get a better look. "I have never seen anything like that before," she said.

"The reason why I ask is that Kyle said he saw a similar mark on your stomach," said the Sheriff.

"He was wrong or mistaken," said Liz. Six could tell that she was lying by the way she was so defensive in her statement.

"I'm sure Kyle's got a pretty wild imagination," said the Sheriff. "This case that I am working on is a high priority case though. I am sorry to push, this but with this killer out there, I'm gonna need to see for myself Liz. Do you mind if I take a look at the area?"

"Come on sheriff. I mean, I told you that I spilled ketchup," said Liz. She was nervous. Six could tell that Liz was she afraid to show the Sheriff. She assumed it was because the killer might come back for her. "And I, I said that like, a thousand times."

"Liz, please?" asked the Sheriff. Six could tell that he was not going to take no for an answer. She also picked up that Liz did not want to do what the Sheriff asked. Liz looked more annoyed than scared. Six picked up on small tells that she was not being totally honest with the Sheriff. Her voice would crack a few times, she trembled slightly, and her eyes darted around the room, avoiding looking at the sheriff at all cost. The sheriff continued to stare at her. Resigned that she was going to have to comply, Liz got up slowly and lifted her shirt enough to show her stomach. Six could see the outline of a hand on it. It had a slight silvery glow about it, with her advanced Lorien eyesight she could make out white specks that looked like stars swirling in the handprint.

"The mark faded on the corpse too," said Sheriff Valenti. "What do you know about a kid named Max Evans?"

"Max Evans?" asked Liz.

Six could tell that the sheriff hit a nerve. Liz was trying to be cool and play it off to the sheriff as if she did not know what he was talking about. But, as soon as the sheriff mentioned someone name Max Evans, Liz's posture stiffened defensively.

"Mmmm, hmmm.." said the Sheriff as if he already knew that Liz was going to say.

"Um...I don't really know him all that well," said Liz trying to look innocent. She was not convincing at all. Six could tell that Liz knew this guy, Max.

"Was he one of the kids at the Crash Down that day?" asked the sheriff.

"No," replied Liz too quickly. Even Six recognized that she was lying.

"I see," said the sheriff. His tone letting everyone know that he did not believe Liz either.

"Can I go home now Sheriff?" asked Liz. Six knew that she wanted to get out of there.

"Yes, sure" said the sheriff, as he watched Liz get from the chair. Six could tell that she was shaken. Six suspected that it had something to with the boy, Max Evans. Six would ask Sam to look him up also. She was pleased with the day so far. She might not have found a special place to hide weapons and supplies, but she might have found the some of the Garde.

Liz looked at the sheriff one more time then started to turn to go. He picked a bookbag up off the ground next to him. Six had never noticed it before. He pulled a dress out that looked like a waitress' uniform.

"I believe that this might belong to you," stated the sheriff laying out the dress on the desk. It was baby blue in color with white accents on the sleeve and collar. The gold nametag had an UFO emblem on it with LIZ engraved in black letters on it. The sheriff spread the dress out in such a way so that you could see a hole in abdomen area. The same place where Six saw the fading silver handprint on Liz.

"Somebody turned in this bookbag, it is yours isn't it?"

Liz turned, looked, and saw the dress. She walked back to the desk, picked up the dress, mumbled a thank you, leaned down and grabbed the bookbag, stuffing the dress inside. She holds it near her chest. Six watches as she walks past the principal, who for some reason had been very quiet through out the conversation. He had been a chatter box when walking with the sheriff. Now, Six had almost forgotten that he was there. He just smiled at Liz as she walked past him and out the door. The bell rang at that time announcing that school was out for the day.

Six watched as the sheriff and the deputy stood to leave. The principal walked out with them. She wanted to follow them out the door, but there were now too many students in the hallway that could run into her. This would expose her; she was invisible not intangible. As soon as they were out of eyesight, Six turn visible and walked out the door, joining the throng of students in the hallway.

She made it to her locker, thankful that the cameras were not on yet. She grabbed her motorcycle helmet and backpack with her supplies in it and headed out to the parking lot. She got to her motorcycle and looked around once more, trying to see if anything stood out. She saw the bronze-haired guy and the other model looking people looking at her. He smiled at her, then they all got into their expensive cars and drove off. Six did the same on her motorcycle.

**A/N**

**Next Chapter will have abused and strong language in it. I will be changing this to Mature.**


	52. Ch04d Gertie and the Abused

**Trigger Warning Ahead**

"Can I do something to correct th…," pleaded Chase.

"We have been over this before Chase," said Ms. Finch cutting him off. "That was the makeup test that I gave you. I have posted Tutor times on the door, if you need extra help."

"But the times you have interfere with Lacrosse practice," whined Chase.

"Well, maybe if you gave the same dedication to your school work that you give to Lacrosse you would not have gotten a C on this test," said Ms. Finch as she grabbed a stack of papers off her desk and placing them in her satchel. "Now get to class."

Chase looked down at the paper that he held in his hand, it had a C minus on it. His dad was going to kill him. He let out a sigh that he did not realize that he was holding. He saw movement out of the corner of his eye. It was Gertie: they used to be friends when they were younger. Mainly because their parents were friends. But, ever since the funeral they had all drifted apart. She was looking at him.

"What do you want?" asked Chase.

"Whoa, chill with the attitude," said Gertie. "If you are having trouble in Ms. Finch's class. I might be able to help you."

"Yeah, how?" said Chase stuffing his test paper into his backpack.

"I can tutor you," said Gertie. "After Lacrosse practice."

"Why would you do that for me?" ask Chase slinging his backpack over his shoulder.

"Look we used to be friends, until…" said Gertie trying to swallow the lump that was in her throat.

Chase looked at her for a moment. He did not have time for this. He did not feel like going down memory lane with Gertie. She was smart - always had been. But he was not sure if he wanted to go back and deal with his old friends yet. He looked over Gertie's shoulder and saw Karolina walking past. Her blonde hair pulled back with a curl falling across her face. She made his heart skip for a moment. Especially when she smiled, like she did now at something her friend said. Her whole face lit up.

"Ok. Fine that would be great," said Chase heading out the door not really looking at Gertie. His eyes trying to find Karolina.

"Ok, I will call you later today," said Gertie. "After practice."

"Ok." She heard Chase say as he walked out of the classroom.

Gertie smiled to herself. Her heart was beating so fast. She could not believe that Chase would agree to help. He was such a chauvinist type of guy. He would normally never let anyone help him. The total jock-type. She watched him walk out of the classroom. She kept looking at his shorts the way his ass would fill out the Lacrosse shorts that he wore.

Gertie hurried to her locker and put her books away. She grabbed a notebook and a pen and shoved them into her backpack and closed her locker. She grabbed the battery charger and cord. Even though her phone showed 82 percent charged. She wanted to make sure that nothing would happen when she called Chase.

Gertie sat in the stands trying to keep her head buried into her book. But she kept stealing glances at the Lacrosse team as the practiced, especially every time Chase was on the field. She heard the coach scream and yell at the team. He would make them do drills over and over. It was exhausting just to watch them.

Gertie turned to see the cheerleaders on the other side of the field doing their routines. She saw Molly there. How many times as she talked with the girl about the objectification of women. Cheerleading made women into what men wanted them to be. Cheerleading just put women in skimpy clothes and made them tumble around cheering to feed the man's ego. Disgusting.

She heard the coach blow his whistle and watched the Lacrosse team head towards the boys' locker room. She would have like to follow them and do some objectifying herself. She walked over to Molly and saw that she had a load of sweaty towels that the cheerleaders kept giving to her.

"I am the team manager," said Molly happily as Gertie approached her.

"More like indentured servant," remarked Gertie. "You ready?"

"Yeah, let me put these away and I'll meet you in the car," said Molly leaving with a huge stack of sweaty towels.

"Hurry up," said Gertie.

The car ride home was uneventful. Molly talked about being on the cheerleading team. Gertie tried to inform her that she does not need to be a stereotypical teenage girl and can be whoever she wants to be. They got home; she rushed to finish her homework, ate a snack and kept looking at the time. Trying to decide when would be the best time to call Chase. She figured he would take a shower and change. Probably go get something to eat or eat at his house. She did not want to call too soon and seem desperate. She kept picking up the phone hitting Chase's number but never got the courage to press the call button.

Chase dropped off his backpack on the bar chair and headed towards the refrigerator. He grabbed some ham, turkey, cheese, mayo and mustard from it. He placed eight pieces of bread on the counter and started to squirt mayo and mustard on them.

His phone rang he saw that it was a video call from Gertie. He answered the phone but did not pick it up.

"Hello," he said.

"Chase are you there?" asked Gertie. She was unable to see anything but a hand moving across the screen.

"Yeah, just making me a snack," said Chase piling on the meat and cheese on his sandwiches.

Gertie watched as hands moved across the screen. She saw that each hand had several handfuls of meat in them. She must have counted at least five heaping of meats going back and forth across the screen.

"You call that a snack." She said after what looked like ten slices of ham was being placed on a sandwich.

"Yeah, it is just four sandwiches."

"Just four."

"Yeah, it should last me until dinner."

Gertie just smiled she did not know that Chase had such a ravenous appetite. She would have to remember that for later. She heard the refrigerator door open and close as she assumed that he was putting the food away. If there was any left to put away.

She finally saw Chase's face appear on the screen. Her heart sped up a little. His hair was still wet from the shower that he had taken after practice. Strands of hair wisped down his forehead making her want to take her hand and put it back into place.

"Sorry about that. I just got home," he said. "I am going to put you in my pocket for a minute as I go to my room."

Before she could voice any objection. She saw a hand come across the screen. She briefly made out a shirt and then the screen went black. "Rude" she thought to herself.

"Hi dad," she heard Chase say to his dad.

She heard his dad mumble something but could not make out what he said. She heard Chase say something about going to his room and doing some homework. Her heart sped up a little. She had been in Chase's room before but that was when she was little. Now the thought of being in his room excited her for some reason.

Light finally broke through the darkness of her screen. She saw Chase's face come in and out as he positioned his phone. She saw that he was sitting on his bed. A stack of sandwiches in front of him. He reached for one and took a bite out of it.

"So, you going to the party in the woods this weekend?" he asked.

Did he just ask her out? She had to look away to hide the heat that was coming off her face. "I am not sure." She mumbled

"Do you know if Karolina will be going?" Chase asked as if she was not right there in front of him.

She looked at him giving him a stare that a blind man would be able to feel. Chase seemed blinder than a blind man because he just took another bite from his sandwich.

"I don't know," she said.

"What the hell is this." She heard a voice yell. She knew it was Victor Stein, Chase's dad.

"Dad, I can explain," pleaded Chase.

She saw a hand come towards Chase. The phone fell off the place where Chase had put it. It landed in such a way that she could see what was going on. she saw Victor backhand Chase across the face. It spun him around and he half landed on the bed. The sandwiches went flying. She could not tell if his lip was busted or if it was his nose. There was a lot of blood coming from his face.

She watched as Victor grabbed his son by the hair and pulled his face up. He shoved a piece of paper in his face while placing his knee on his back making sure he could not run.

"A 'C' you made a fucking C minus." said Victor roughly rubbing the paper in Chase's face smearing blood all over the paper in the process.

"I can explain." Chase frantically cried.

"Oh, I can fucking explain it to you." His father yelled at him, pulling the boy's shirt up and shorts down and at the same time pulling off his belt in one fluid motion. "I put you in the best damn private schools. But you little shithead could not fucking hack it. So, you had to go to a damn public school. And you are a fucking failure there too. No son of mine is going to make a C in damn public school. Do you fucking understand me!"

Gertie watched as each time he said a word the belt would hit Chase's bare skin. She had tears in her eyes. She saw blood running down his thigh as his father wielded the belt like a whip, busting the skin open.

"Victor, Victor! Stop!" she heard Janet, his wife, cry as she came into the room. She watched her grab his arm and try to pull him away from Chase. She helplessly watched as Victor hit Janet and she stumbled backwards.

"This is YOUR fucking fault." He screamed at Chase. Gerrie watched as Victor kicked Chase a couple of times. She could hear the air coming out of his lungs as Chase tried not to scream. "Stop being so damn stupid."

Gertie watched as Victor stood up and looked over to where his wife was. "Get up off the damn floor. You make that fucking boy weak." Victor said walking out the room. "Now, I believe that I have made my point here. I am going to go change. I expect dinner around six and get me something to drink."

Gertie watch as Janet came over to comfort Chase. Her face was red where Victor had hit it. "Chase, Chase are you…" she started to say.

"Mom just go and do what he says." Chase said.

Janet moved away from him, holding her hand over her mouth as she went out the door. She watched as Chase carefully pulled his shorts up as he tried to get up. She could tell that he was hurt because he winced at the pain.

"I am going to call child services." She said.

Chase looked over at the phone. She could tell that he totally forgot that she was there. He grabbed it started talking really fast.

"No. No, please don't…" he said. "You will only make it worse."

"But that was some serious abuse." She said.

"Gertie, please no." Chase said tears streaming down his face mixing with the blood coming from his nose. "He is rich and powerful. It will only make matters worse. He will only move us again. I don't want to move. Please Gertie… Please, please."

"Ok." She said reluctantly.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you," said Chase. "I've got to go. I have to get ready for dinner."

He did not wait for her to respond before he hung up the call. Gertie was mad. There must be something she could do to help Chase out of this. She knew that Victor was mean, but she did not realize that he was this bad.

Chase ended the call with Gert. He did not know what he was going to say to her tomorrow. Gertie was not someone who could let stuff go. No, she would insist that something be done about it. She did not understand, her helping was not really helping. His dad was very rich and powerful. He was not afraid of the police. All he had to do was to pay off a judge and then move them again. Chase did not want to move. He liked his friends. He finally found a place where he felt he belonged.

Chase made his way into his bathroom. He looked in the mirror and saw blood all over his face. He was thankful that only his nose was busted and not his lip. The nose did not swell as much or as long as a busted lip did. His dad had back handed him once when he was in seventh grade. His lips were swollen for almost a week. He told everyone that he had gotten stung by a wasp.

He ran a washcloth under the cool water and cleaned the blood from his face. He pulled off his shirt and his shorts. He winced when he tried pulled down his underwear. The drying blood was already making his underwear stick to him. He let out a small whimper as he tried to remove them again, tears forming in eyes he as he did it. The pain was just too much for him to bear. He buttocks was just too tender. His dad had opened some fresh wounds on top of some old scars that he had on his buttocks. He turned on the shower and let it warm up, then stepped in the shower with his underwear on. The warm water felt good on his shoulders. But it stung when the spray his face. It could feel his underwear loosening from his sensitive skin. He looked that the water by his feet was dark red. He turned off the hot water and just let the cold water run. He knew that colder water was better to help stop the bleeding faster. He watched as the water at his feet, slowly started to fade from a dark red, to a light red, to pink, then finally clear. He hated that his dad was always able to hit him with his buckle of his belt. The buckle itself was the cause of the gashes all over his backside.

Chase stayed under the water a little longer. Crying his eyes out silently so that no one could hear him. He cried out his anger at his dad for doing this to him. He cried out his anger at his mom for not stopping it. He cried out his anger at himself for not standing up to his dad. Then he cried out his anger at himself for not being a good son. He wanted his father to be proud of him. He was tired of not being able to be the son that his father wanted him to be. He was such a disappointment. He always seemed to fuck everything up. He would never be able to please his dad or his mom for that matter.

A knock on the door brought him out of his melancholy. "Yes, be right out," said Chase turning off the water.

"I brought you fresh towels and stuff," said his mom. "I will leave them on your bed."

"OK, thanks," said Chase.

"Dinner should be ready in twenty minutes," said Janet his mom.

"Ok, I will be right down," said Chase. He knew his mom had brought him some medical supplies. She started out tending his wounds when he was younger. Telling him that his father did not mean to do the things that he did to them. She would make excuses for him. She never made it out to be Chase's fault. Even when sometimes he probably deserved to get some discipline, but not to the extent that his father dished out. But at least grounded. Now, he would not let her take care of him. He was older now and knew that his mom loved him. But he did not need her trying to convince him that his father did not mean it. He did not care anymore if he did or did not mean it. He knew that he would never be able to be the son his father needed or wanted.

Chase heard his bedroom door close. He pulled the towel off the rack and dried his body. His backside was so tender it hurt when he patted his buttocks, lower back, and upper legs dry. He looked at the towel he saw that there were still some small marks of red on the towel. He wrapped his towel around himself and slowly opened his door. He wanted to make sure his dad was not there. A couple of times when he would upset his dad, he or his mother would clean himself up, only to be blind-sided when his father would come back in to drive his point home again.

Satisfied that no one was in his room. He went toward his door and locked it. He released a breath that he did not know he was holding when he heard his lock click safely in place. He went towards his bed and saw the supplies that his mother had gotten for him. She left a glass water and some ibuprofen which he took right away. She also left some antibiotic cream, gauze, tape, and some thick bandages. Chase snatched them off the bed and went back into the bathroom. He dropped his towel and looked at his ass in the mirror. He saw that there were red marks crisscrossing his glutes. Some were still bleeding slightly; some had started to scab over. He grabbed the antibiotic cream and squeezed out some on his hand. He spread it across his cheeks, wincing when his hand would slide over a tender spot, stinging when the cream would hit and open flesh. He grabbed the paper tape that his mom got for him and start pulling off pieces and placing the edge of the tape on the bathroom sink so that he could grab them later when he needed them. He grabbed some of the thick pads and place them on his butt cheeks and taped them down. He looked at his ass in the mirror satisfied that all the cuts and gouges were covered. He put on his boxers, then his pants, wincing a little when the pressure of the fabric pressed into his wounds as he fastened his button and zipped his zipper. He threw on a blue polo T-shirt and headed downstairs.

He walked into the kitchen and saw that his mom was at the stove, with a wooden spoon in her mouth tasting her dish. His father was sitting in the dinette reading a magazine. Her mom looked over at him a look of sorrow or was it shame crossed her face. It quickly faded as she turned and put the spoon back in the pot. Chase could tell that she had caked on the makeup, probably to hide the bruise that she had received.

"Hi son," she said as he walked in. "How was your day?"

"It was fine," said Chase as he sat down at the dinette's chair. He tried to hold back the wince that came to his face as he sat down. If he showed any type of pain or weakness. It could set his father off again. "I have to buckle down more in Ms. Finch's class. I did not get the grade that I wanted on my last exam."

"I am sure that you will be able to bring it up," said Janet placing a plate of food in front of him and then another in front of his father. Chase and his mother acted like nothing happened as they ate dinner like a normal family. They made small talk, with Janet asking his father about his day and his father telling her about it. Chase zoned out on the conversation. He finished his dinner and helped his mom clean up, neither one of them speaking. They were still walking on eggshells around his father.

When Chase made it up to his room, he let out a sigh of relief. He had learned early on after his dad's outburst against him or his mom that they needed to act like a perfect son and wife or else the abuse would be worse than before. He decided that he need to clean his room. He knew that at this moment if his father walked in and saw anything out of place, he might go off again. He knew that after dinner, Victor had a drink. Sometimes the alcohol calmed him, sometimes it made him worse. Chase did not want to give him a reason to hit him or his mother again. He rushed around the room picking up clothes and other items off the floor. He straightened items on his shelves, to make sure they were in their correct spots. He went over to make his bed and saw his phone. He had forgotten about the phone call with Gertie. She had seen everything. His heart sank. He did not know what he was going to tell her.

**If you are interested on see what the characters look like check out the story on Wattpad.**


	53. Ch04e Wolves Watch Football Game

**Ch04e Wolves Watch Football Game**

Stefan wiped the blood from his lips, the rabbit that he had just caught in the woods behind the school took some of the edge off his hunger. His thirst for blood was more heightened when he was around Elena. For some reason, she stirred up a desire in him, every sense in his body became more alive when he thought about her. She was so cute and her cheerleading outfit he had a hard time not compelling her to be his. Even though she was just a spitting image of Catherine, he knows now that Catherine was a manipulative bitch. No, Catherine used people and brought out the worse in others. She was the one who turned him against his brother Damon.

When Stefan and Damon were younger, they were best of friends, brothers in arms so to speak. Then Catherine came, and she was beautiful and captivating. She used her looks to decimate the town, his family, and his relationship with his brother. He hoped that Elena was not like Catherine, even though she looked like her. She was an exact duplicate. Stefan hated and loved Catherine. He knew, even back then, that their relationship would not last. He was like a moth drawn to a flame. Stefan could tell that Elena was nothing like Catherine. Maybe it was because he had had over one hundred years to get over his sire. Or, maybe he hadn't learned and was just a moth flying towards the flame about to get burned, again.

Stefan threw down the rabbit carcass and then he pulled out a pack of wet wipes from his back pocket. Ever since he started feeding on small animals, he always carried around moist towelettes to clean up afterward. For some reason, their blood always seamed to splatter when he sunk his fangs into them. Making a mess. If he were to go back to civilization with his face covered in blood, people would think that he was a monster. He knew that he was, he just did not want other people to know it. The fauna he used as food around Beacon Hills was fairly diverse so far; populated with rabbits, badgers, skunks, squirrels, and even a fox or two.

Stefan caught a weird scent in the air. His enhanced sense of smell warned him that there was something else out there. The scent was very faint. He thought that it was probably a larger predator that must have been in the area earlier. He knew that this area had some bears. Maybe a mountain lion had wandered close to the town. Larger predators tended to stay away from humans. Sometimes coyotes or bears would venture close. This scent was definitely of a larger predator. Stefan wasn't too concerned with some of the larger predators. He felt that he might be able to survive an attack from a bear or mountain lion. He just didn't want to spend a whole day healing from scratches that a bear or a mountain lion could inflict on him. Stefan sniffed the air again, satisfied that there were no large predators near him. He threw down the wipe near the rabbit carcass and sped out towards the school.

As Stefan left the woods, three giant wolves appeared out of the bush. They started sniffing around, paying close attention to the rabbit carcass that Stefan had drained the blood from. Once they had each sniffed the carcass and captured its scent, they committed the scent to memory and took off following the same trail that Stefan had used.

"_Do you think he is a vegetarian, like the Cullens?"_ asked Seth.

"_Don't know,"_ replied Jacob. _"Remember, Alice, said we're going to need allies for what is coming."_

"_I wish it would have been a wolf,"_ said Seth. _"It would be nice to have more wolves around instead of another bloodsucking vampire. Don't get me wrong, the Cullens are nice and I love Esme's cooking. But it would be nice to have another four-footed wolf around instead of someone that did not have such a sickly-sweet smell."_

Jacob just laughed in his head. He knew that Seth wanted a female, preferably one that was a wolf, to play with. Seth's thoughts were opened to him and the others in his pack. It was a curse of pack life. No one had any secrets. Jacob knew that Seth was growing up and it was normal for him to start being interested in the fairer sex. Jacob just hoped that he did not experience the same thing that Leah went through with Sam.

Jacob remembered that Leah and Sam had been lovers until Sam imprinted on Emily. Leah was devastated when that had happened. At first, she had not known the legends about the shape-shifters of the Quileute tribe, or even that they were true. She hadn't understood yet that Sam did not have any control over who he imprinted on. To make matters worse, when she herself became a wolf, her thoughts and feelings were open to the entire pack. All her feelings towards Sam, her hatred of Emily, and everything else. That guilt still follows her. Jacob hoped that Leah would imprint on someone. He believes that she gives everything she has into everything that she does. That she feels the need to escape the memories of her relationship with Sam, someone she truly loved. Jacob also knew that she was happier in his pack than in Sam's. Jacob was not the type of alpha who would betray or take advantage of one of his betas' thoughts. Sam would not have either, for that matter.

The wolves slowed their pace as they came near the football field. They could hear that several sports teams were practicing in different fields. One thing about Beacon Hills High, they loved their sports teams. The lacrosse team was practicing in their field. Their coach could not stop blowing his whistle and yelling at the players. In another field, the girl's soccer team was having a match. The cheerleaders were down by the track going over different routines and the football field was teeming with football players. Once the wolves had the lay of the land, they hid in the woods. Even though they were larger than the average wolf, they had a natural ability to blend in with their surroundings and hide their scent. Even though they were near Stefan earlier, he was unable to sense their presence. Satisfied that no one could actually see them, they kept their eyes and noses on the lookout for Stefan.

Stefan walked up to the coach, who happened to be Mr. Tanner, his history teacher. Stefan inquired about joining the team. He looked over and saw Elena, he thought she looked good in her cheerleading outfit. Stefan could tell she was looking for him. She kept looking the football team over. Once she found him, she smiled and did not look away. Stefan acted like he did not see her.

"Varsity trials were last spring," said Mr. Tanner, breaking him out of his fantasy of Elena. "Mr. Salvatore."

"I wasn't here then Sir," said Stefan.

"And you're not here now," said Mr. Tanner in a very condescending way. "As far as I'm concerned."

Stefan knew that he could probably compel Mr. Tanner into letting him join the football team. But he was trying to do this without using his vampire abilities. So he decided to try a different tact.

'Look, Mr. Tanner, I realize that we didn't get off to a good start," said Stefan. "And I want to apologize for that. I've played ball before, wide-receiver actually, and I'm pretty good."

"Well, I'll be asking who won the Super Bowl in '71," mumbled Mr. Tanner.

"In '71 was, uh… sorry," said Stefan realizing Mr. Tanner was still sore about what Stefan did earlier in class. "I understand that, Sir."

Mr. Tanner looked at him. Stefan was so glad that he had been able to knock him down a peg or two earlier today when he was in his class. Mr. Tanner was condescending towards others and belittled them because he thought he was smarter than everybody else in the room. Well, Stefan proved that he wasn't.

"Just to see you get knocked on your ass," said Mr. Tanner. "Go see the team manager get some gear. GO. Now. Before I change my mind."

Stefan jogged towards the locker rooms and met up with the team's manager, He was a skinny guy with glasses; the guy loved football, that was all that he seemed to want to talk about. Stefan felt sorry for him. He knew that he was one of those guys that would never be big enough to play, but his heart was all in the game. Stefan thanked him for the gear and put it on.

He jogged towards Mr. Tanner again and stood beside him. Mr. Tanner was calling out plays, but the team was not executing them very well. He noticed that Matt had been switched out with the other quarterback named Valenti. He knew that Matt and Elena had a past relationship. He knew that there would never be anything between Matt and Elena. She had firmly placed him in the friend zone. He was not sure if Matt understood that the relationship really was over. The dirty look that Matt gave him, made him realize that Matt still thought that he had a chance with Elena.

"First my girlfriend," he heard Matt say to Tyler. "Now my team."

"Dude this is an opportunity," he heard Tyler reply to him. "Football is a contact sport, sometimes people get hurt, ha, ha."

Stefan looked over the field where the cheerleader for practicing. Elena still looked good in her cheerleading outfit; Stefan had to admit to himself. She was filling out all the right places and she looked so much better than Katherine. He also saw Caroline and Bonnie were there also, Bonnie favored her grandmother. It was weird coming back into town and seeing how things had changed. He and Bonnie's grandmother had a little fling in the past. But, like most relationships between vampires and witches they didn't last. He was lucky that their split was amicable for both, so no hard feelings.

He saw Caroline organizing everybody in their places so they could start going over the cheerleading routine. Stefan could tell that Elena was nervous, she seemed a bit out of practice. Her movements were not fluid and in sync with the other girls. Stefan thought it was comical and it endeared her to him even more.

Stefan waited beside Mr. Tanner as he called out some more plays for the team to run. Mr. Tanner called over Tommy over, who was also a wide receiver. Stefan saw a couple of plays that he had run. Tommy wasn't that bad of a player. Mr. Tanner told Tommy to sit down and for Stefan to take his place. Matt called a couple of easy plays, mainly slants and a couple of routine tree plays. Stefan excelled at all the plays called, throwing off the defenders. It felt nice to play a little ball again.

After finishing another play, he saw Elena looking at him. Matt called out another play; this time, a deep pass. Matt overthrew the ball. But Stefan was able to get under it, catch the ball, and run it in for a touchdown. The coaches and the rest of the team were clapping and cheering him on. He spiked the ball in the end zone and flexed his muscles all the while looking at Elena. When she noticed that Stefan was looking at her, the smile and blush on her face told Stefan everything he needed to know. That she liked what she saw.

"Come on damn it," yelled Mr. Tanner. "Tyler cover him, you're playing like shit."

Even without using his enhanced abilities, Stefan could tell that the team sucked. He was running circles around them, but some of the guys played OK. The team looked more like a middle school football team than a high school varsity team. Elena was right, they really could use the help.

"Come on let's line it up again," said Matt. The team got back into their positions to play. Again, the same play was played, but still, the players were off. Every time Matt threw it to Stefan, he would catch it and either get a first down or score a touchdown. Stefan's skills got him noticed from the other coaches and players also. Soon everyone was watching him. They only one that he cared about was Elena seeing him.

"I think he needs a buddy pass," Stefan heard a very frustrated Tyler say.

"Really?" replied Matt. Stefan could tell that Matt was hesitant into doing something like that. Maybe Matt wasn't jealous boyfriend type of guy.

"You just don't get to walk on my field and act like you own the place after 5 minutes." said Tyler. "Just hang one up there and I'll take care of the rest."

The team lined up again in their positions. Everybody was watching. Stefan knew what was coming. He knew that he needed to show the guy that he could take a hit and once this stunt was over, he would be in the good graces of the team. He would rather have them as friends than enemies. Because of how long he had lived, he realized that people would overlook your weirdness if they liked you. It was when they did not like you that they could be stirred up into a mob with pitchforks and torches.

"Blue 80, blue 80, set hut," said Matt as he took the ball from the center. Stefan ran from the left side to the right towards and across the defenders. He turned and Matt released the ball, but this time it was high which made Stefan jump high in the air to catch the ball. As soon as he caught it Tyler was right there hitting him low and hard. Well, it wasn't that hard due to his durability. Everybody could hear the hit. Some of the players even winced when they heard it.

"Woo, woo, welcome to the team," yelled Tyler as he strutted around the football field, acting cocky.

"Are you OK," asked Mr. Tanner as he and some of the other coaches ran over to check on him.

"Yeah, I'm fine," said Stefan.

"Shake it off, just shake it off," said Mr. Tanner there was a little bit of pride in laced in his voice.

Stefan had to put back his broken finger in position. He hoped that no one saw it. It did not go unnoticed by the three wolves that were hiding in the woods watching the entire episode. They could hear, see and smell everything that was going on. Jacob and the others knew that Stefan was holding back on his abilities.

He, Leah, and Seth were here to observe nothing else, unless Stefan decided to kill someone. Then Stefan would be in a world of hurt if he did. They knew that someone or something had killed someone recently. At the crime scene, there was a lingering scent of a vampire. Jacob and the other wolves did not understand how vampires all seemed to have such a sickening sweet smell about themselves. Stefan had the same smell as the Cullens, but not as strong and there was an underlining scent of decay about them. Once they were satisfied that Stefan wasn't going to kill anyone, they headed back towards the Cullen's house.

Stefan and the team ran a few more plays. The other players seemed to have warmed up to Stefan as the coach had him play different positions. Some of the players wanted to get to know Stefan better so they started making small talk with him on the field. Mr. Tanner call for everyone to take one lap around the field before hitting the showers. They were to take home the latest plays and study them so that everyone knew what was expected of them for the next game.

"You did well out there, Stefan," said Mr. Tanner. "Welcome to the team."

"Thank you," said Stefan as he shook Mr. Tanner's hand.

Stefan ran a lap around the field to join with the other guys. Once he was finished, he got a locker from the team manager who would not stop talking about how great Stefan was and how thankful the team was for having him on it. Stefan headed towards the showers, he saw Matt and Tyler talking and tried to avoid them. He knew that Matt did not like him because he and Elena had this connection. Tyler was just the type of guy who wanted to be a jerk. But, it seemed like they were lost in their own world and did not notice him as he headed towards the showers.

"Hey! Stefan, right?" called out Tyler. "You played well out there today."

"Thanks," said Stefan.

"Yeah, he wiped the field with your ass," teased Matt.

Tyler and Matt started to play wrestle ignoring Stefan. Stefan just maneuvered himself around the two boys. He took Tyler's admission as an apology or as close to an apology that he was going to get from him. Tyler did not seem to be the type of guy who would give an apology for behaving like a jerk.

"Hey new guy," said another teammate with blonde hair. "I'm Tommy. Man, where did you learn to play like that? You were really great out there."

"Yeah," said the brown-haired. "With you on the team, we might actually win some games."

"Thanks," said Stefan.

"You were great," said Kyle coming and joining the other boys. "Kyle Valenti."

Stefan shook his hand and said his name back. This was the same Kyle that was talking to Liz earlier in the band room with Max.

"Aren't you a quarterback also?" asked Stefan.

"Yeah, I am," said Kyle. "I normally play the first half and Matt plays the second half. Our school district limits how many quarters we can play. They think that if we play too much, we are at a higher risk of getting a concussion."

"Yeah, buddy you were not playing well today," Paulie said to Kyle.

"Come on, Paulie," said Tommy. "Kyle here has the classic problem. He's got a girl on his mind. He can't get over Liz Parker dumping him over the summer."

"She did not dump me," cried Kyle. "She said that she wanted to take a small break, to slow down. She thought that we were getting too serious."

"It sure sounds like she dumped you to me," said Paulie.

"No, we are taking a break," said Kyle taking off his jersey and throwing it on the bench.

Stefan headed into the showers. He could hear the guys talk about different girls and how they don't need to be tied down to just one. Stefan hardly paid them any attention until Kyle mentioned that Max Evans was the one moving in on his girl. Stefan walked out of the shower and got dressed by his locker. He could tell that Kyle's friends, Tommy and Paulie, were the type of guys who would make any excuse to beat-up someone.

Stefan walked out of the locker room. This time he thanked the team manager for all his hard work. Getting out before the guy could start talking and keep him there for another 30 minutes. Stefan had better things to do. Stefan made it to his family's boarding house in no time. The time passed quickly as he had things on his mind. As he entered his room, he felt that he was not alone. There was someone in his room.

"Hello, brother."

He turned and saw his brother Damen.


	54. Ch04f Zach Record This

**Ch04f Zach Record This**

Lexa ran along the path beside the railroad tracks, trying to clear her mind. The information that Adam Kane revealed to them was weighing heavy on her mind. That there was a recent change in the quantum field. She wasn't even sure what it meant. All she understood was that every quantum scientist, mathematician, and mechanic were very worried. Most were beyond worried, to the point of freaking out. She did not understand what the absence of non-localities meant or that the strings have changed their frequencies. That stuff was way over her head.

She heard yelling up ahead and increased her pace. She came upon an old mineral processing plant near the abandoned train station. She saw a teenage boy with a video camera running towards what looked like a cheerleader on the ground.

Lexa went invisible. She slowly approached them. She saw the cheerleader roll over and sit up. Her arm at an awkward angle, her shoulder dislocated - perhaps even broken. She stands up and pops her shoulder back into the socket. She doesn't appear to be in any pain at all. She sighs as she rubs her shoulder. She looks at the camera. There's a bloody cut on her cheek.

"This is Claire Bennet, said the cheerleader. "And that was attempt number six."

Lexa could see the bloody cut on her cheek heal... and vanish completely right before her very eyes. As Claire looked in the camera, Lexa was sure that Claire was a mutant. She had amazing regeneration abilities. Lexa knew that she was only here to observe. She followed as the boy and Claire move away from the plant towards a bike that was chained to a pole.

"I'm so depressed." She heard Claire say.

"What? What are you talking about?" said the boy "Why?" He was not paying attention to Claire, he was busy watching the video. Lexa looked over and saw that the boy had captured Claire jumping off the mining structure.

"All right, besides the fact that it was so grossed out I almost fudged myself," said the boy. "This is the single coolest thing to happen to this town in, like, a hundred years.

"Not if nobody finds out, it's not," said Claire.

"Why'd you want me to tape you?" said the boy.

"I have my reasons," said Claire.

"It's not like you're not gonna be popular anymore," said the boy.

Lexa was ready to walk away. Teenage angst was not something she could stomach. But the cheerleader had shown amazing healing powers.

"Popular? Who said anything about being popular?" said Claire. "My life as I know it is over, okay? I've got the Bishop game next week, SAT's in October, homecoming's three weeks from today, and I'm a freak show!"

"You're being a little dramatic," said the boy. "Don't you think?"

"No, I don't think! I have busted, like, every bone in my body, stabbed myself in the chest, I've shoved a two-foot steel rod through my neck, and I don't have a scratch on me!" yelled Claire. Lexa was impressed with what the girl did to herself. If she had not seen it for herself, she would not have believed her. But she could actually see the three ribs sticking out of her side. The girl does not even seem to notice. It hurt Lexa just looking at it.

"Wh-what do you call that thing sticking out?" the boy sees it pointing at it. His face goes pale and looks like he is about to puke. Lexa wouldn't blame him if he did. Claire looks down at her abdomen and pushes her ribs back into place as if it was an everyday occurrence. The boy turns an even lighter shade of pale. Lexa knew that he had to have swallowed the bile that was had risen in his throat. Lexa is amazed at how fast her healing properties are. She read up on Wolverine and Deadpool's amazing healing properties. She wonders if this girl was in the same category as them.

"Just give me the tape, okay?" says Claire holding out her hand.

"Sure," says the boy still looking at her. Claire snaps her fingers at him for him to hurry up and snap out of it. Lexa can tell that they are friends. The boy hands the tape to Claire who puts it in her duffle bag.

Lexa waits and watches as the boy unlocks his bike from the pole it had been leaning against as the Claire walks with him. Lexa silently walks with them.

"Hey, I-I can give you a ride on my handlebars if you want," says the boy.

"Look ... thanks, okay? I'll talk to you in front of people at school tomorrow," says Claire. "Promise," as she turns and walks away. Lexa looks at the boy for a minute. He's just standing there. She thought he seemed like a nice kid and could tell that all he wanted was a friend. She could see that he was still in that awkward phase of trying to figure out who he was. The boy slowly walks behind her like a lost puppy.

Lexa trailed behind them as they walk down the street. Lexa could tell that Claire was having an internal conversation with herself. Lexa wanted to talk with Claire to see if she could help her with her transition into mutant-hood and was trying to think of a good way to approach her. She heard some sirens in the distance and figured that Claire heard them also by the way she tilted her head and picked up her pace. The girl had spunk Lexa had to admit.

Lexa follows them as they come up on an accident. A train had jumped the tracks. Firefighters are running back and forth carrying firehoses and equipment to put out the fire and help the survivors. There is a crowd of onlookers forming already.

"That is cool, huh?" asked the boy as he looked around at all the firefighter and EMS people. Lexa could tell that his eyes lingered on some of the firefighters longer than a normal teenage boy should.

"How hot do you think it is in there?" asked Claire as she stared into the fire that engulfed one of the train's cars. Lexa could tell that she was thinking of testing her powers. Lexa watches as Claire hands the tape back to the boy and tell him to turn on the camera. Lexa shadows her until she rushes into the burning train cars. She wants to follow her. But there are firefighters spraying water everywhere and smoke. Even though she is invisible, water or smoke could give her away. She stayed away from the spray as much as she could. She was getting worried that Claire might have burned to death until long moments later she saw Claire exiting the train car with two firefighters helping her with a firefighter who had been overcome by the flames and smoke. She can hear the firefighters yell at each other and one of them runs over to Claire and takes off his jacket to put out the fire on her arm. The firefighter is amazed that she does not have third degrees burns on her arms. The other firefighter calls him over and they start performing CPR on the man that Claire just helped rescue.

Lexa watches as Claire darts away from the firefighter. Lexa again follows her from a distance. She needs to find out where this girl lives so that they can monitor more closely. A mutant with her abilities would be highly sought after. There were many biochemical companies and large pharmaceutical companies that would love to get their hands on her and subject her to some questionable experiments.

Lexa, still invisible, moved closer to Claire and the boy pushing his bike next to her. Her cheerleading uniform was streaked with ash, soot, and had burn marks all over it. Claire did not seem to notice - still lost in her thoughts. Lexa knew that it was hard coming to grips with your new powers. Most mutants' abilities manifested during puberty. Normal humans had a hard-enough time during this period. Their bodies changing. The brain's maturing and their minds going from childlike comprehension to a not quite adult mind. Too many hormones out of control. She could sympathize with Claire. She could tell that the girl was having a tough time dealing with it all.

"Hey! Hey," said the boy. "I can't believe you just left like that."

"Yeah, I know. I was there," said Claire still lost in her thoughts.

"But you saved that dude's life," said the boy who was looking her with a smile and pride in his voice. "It was okay."

Lexa watched as Claire countenance changed. The boy's words influenced her. She was just realizing that her abilities could do some good. Lexa was hoping that she wouldn't be one of those mutants who uses their abilities to commit crimes. It would be a pity if they had to lock her up.

"Thanks for recording me, Zach.," said Claire. "Don't tell anyone, please."

"I won't," said Zach.

"I promise to talk to you in front of everyone also," said Claire.

"Don't worry about," said Zach as he hopped on his bike a rode away.

Lexa trailed Claire down the street and watched as she entered her house. She quickly noted the address and started to jog. She became visible as she jogged further down the street. She brought her hand up towards her face, activating her Com-Link ring. These rings were specifically designed with the wearer's DNA that had all the functionality of a smartphone – and more.

"Call Adam," said Lexa. "Hi, Adam. I have a possibly high-level regen… Be there soon."

Lexa increased her speed as she headed back to where she had parked her car. It felt good to release some of the tension she had been feeling. She worried so much about the girl; Claire. She understood how hard it was to find out that you are different from everyone else around you. Mutant abilities always seemed to make their presence known when someone was at their most vulnerable state: Puberty, which was hard enough to go through when you were a normal teenager. Your body going through changes, your emotions all over the place, trying to figure out who you are, or who you are not. Then add mutant abilities on top of that, you have an even more messed up teenage life.

She was thankful for Adam and the rest of Mutant X, as they called themselves. They had reached out to help the struggling new mutant. Well, she really needed to thank Charles Xavier, it was his vision that led them down this road. He wanted to see mutants and humans live in harmony with one another. She knew that humans were afraid of them. She knew that their fear was justified in some cases. She just wished that there was a group, preferably at school, where new mutants could safely talk about what they were going through. It would be nice if they could provide a classroom taught by a mutant on how to be a mutant. This would save them so much trouble. They would not have to uproot the kid(s) from their homes. Put them in a totally different place. That part was the hardest. Usually, once the family found out that their son or daughter was a mutant, they were either in denial over it or immediately shunned the child. If the family had money, they would try to have them "cured". She shuddered to think that Warren once cut off his wings to try to hide that he was a mutant. That kind of shame from society was the reason he was so easily able to be manipulated by Apocalypse to become one of his four horsemen. Lexa was sure if society had been more accepting of Warren's uniqueness, he would not have had to suffer as much as he did.

Lexa pulled her car up in the driveway, pushing the button on the garage door opener and driving into the garage of the mansion that Adam had bought on the other side of town from where she had been. Shaking the disheartening thoughts from her head. She did not have time to dwell on what happened to the X-Men. She just knew that her heroes and saviors had vanished. She knew that every government on the planet was hiding it from their populace. If word got out that the world had changed so drastically, there would be riots in the streets. From what she and Adam could gather is that the multiverse had changed or merged somehow. People smarter than she could not understand it. She knew that she was not going to be able to comprehend it anytime soon. She just had to take reality as it was now, hoping that the X-Men would return. Until then, she was determined to help as many mutants as she could.

Lexa put her keys on the bar as she walked in from the garage that led straight into the kitchen. This house had become their home, office, secret lair, and training space all in one. They had done this many times before when they had to be in one place doing reconnaissance for an extended period of time. It was easier for them to blend in with the natives, as they like to call the locals. It was not as well protected as the mountain base was, but it would do in a pinch. Their computer system here was synced with the mainframe at the mountain base.

She looked around and saw that Adam had already grabbed the mail. Most of it was junk. Each of them: Brennen, Jesse, Emma, Shalimar, and herself kept post office boxes and fake addresses. For employment purposes only. If someone decided to check up on them, they would get a random address that would lead to an abandoned house, a house for sale, or a P.O. Box address. You could never be too careful.

Lexa headed towards the basement to where she knew Adam was working. She saw all the displays up as she walked in and could tell that Adam had run several algorithms to aid in their quest to help the mutant underground. She knew that Brennen and Jesse were in the gym. They, like her, did their workouts after school and in the morning as well. Emma did her exercising in the morning; in the evening she would help Adam with computer stuff. Usually, Jesse did too, but with things changing the way they had, Jesse decided he needed to get another workout in. Plus, Emma did her afternoon exercises in her brain, since she was a telepath.

"Proudstar, I know," said Adam out loud to the computer screen that had a live video feed of a handsome, muscular, Native American by the name of John Proudstar. He was their main guy in the Southeastern region. He was on the front lines. He and his team were the first ones that the mutants met on their way to a better place.

"What the hell happened?" yelled John. Lexa now had her full attention focused on what was going with John and Adam as she walked over to Emma. John normally never got angry. His mutant powers were such that, if he got angry and lost control people could get hurt. John was not a type of guy to hurt someone unless they needed it.

"We just lost the eight new mutants that John sent to Canada to hide," said Emma as Lexa came up and stood next to her. "We don't know who did it."

"John, we don't know much yet," said Adam pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration, not at John but at the situation. "The only thing we know right now is that they were killed in some sort of ritual."

"What?!" said John and Lexa at the time. Lexa and Emma joining Adam at his station. Adam pressed some buttons on the keyboard and John's face went on the main screen for all of them to see him without having them crowd around Adam's desk.

"This is what we know," said Adam as he pressed more buttons. Pictures and reports started to show up on the screen next to the video of John. Lexa could tell that John was getting them also, by the way, he was looking down at his screen. One of the pictures showed from an aerial view, the eight bodies in a circle, they were tied together in pairs and each pair was at a compass point. Two at North, two at East and West and south respectively. "The weird thing is they were each strangled, had their throat cut, and the back of their heads smashed in."

"Who would do such a terrible thing?" asked Emma out loud. She was mad that someone could actually do this to innocent people. Whoever did this, she wanted to shove them into a mental hell that they would never escape from.

"We don't know," said Adam. "There is no evidence. They were on their last leg of their trip before they slipped across the border to Canada. The guide had been with us for years and was very trustworthy. He was also killed. He checked in to report that all was well, and he did not believe that they had been followed. His mutant powers enabled him to hide himself and others from people trying to track him down. He was our main guy to smuggle mutants across the border."

They could not believe it; the pictures were graphic. They could tell that the mutants died a terrible, anguish filled death. John's face even shows disgust when he saw the graphics. John had been Special Forces for the US Army, and he had seen some terrible things, but this was just gruesome. Adam removed the graphic pictures from the screen, much to Lexa's and Emma's relief.

"Here is the latest satellite image of the team moving into the sanctuary zone before they cross at the Montana/Canada border," said Adam as he pressed some keys on the keyboard. "As you can see the infra-red satellite show eight people hiking on the trail. Which is normal. These are the real images. The mutant guide that we used can make fake infra-red images that fool satellites. This is how we were able to keep him undercover and off the radar. He runs a hiking tour in Montana. Satellites show eight people going in, and on the way back it shows eight people coming back. In reality, the others have crossed over to other mutants who can hide anyone from any type of camera."

"So, almost like a three-card Monty set up," said Emma.

"What type of cards are you play?" asked Brennen as he and Jesse came in from their work. Both were in sweatpants and muscle tees, dripping with sweat.

"We lost eight mutants at checkpoint MC3," stated Adam.

"What? That is supposed to be one of our secure points," said Jesse coming over to one of the computer stations and pulling up the information. Brennen looked on, reading the information over Jesse's shoulder as he pulled it up.

"Exactly, the only ones who knew the handoff location were seven people not counting us," said Adam. He looked worried. He did not want to have a leak. He knew that they took every precaution for the safety of the mutants. America was becoming increasingly hostile to mutants. He could see the writing on the wall. Things would get worse for them before they got better. Canada had huge areas that they could hide and resettle them. He hoped that they would be safe there. But Canadian politicians were also looking at them. The small part of the liberal party wanted to tax them or make them use their powers for whatever the state wanted them to do. Then they would have to live in designated areas. He did not like that at all. Mutants not being able to be free. Luckily, they were only a small part of the progressive party and that their views on Mutant's Rights were not anywhere near the other's views in their party.

"I've scanned the entire area for the past three months and no one has been in the area. Only animals have shown up on infra-red, silent sonar system, and the border scan system that the military uses," said Jesse.

"So, we don't know who or what did this," stated Brennen tugging on the towel around his neck. Little arcs of electricity running down his neck. Venting some of the frustration he was feeling.

"And nothing looks like it came out of the area either," said Jesse. "It's as if someone or something happened to already be there waiting on them, popped up, performed a mutant sacrifice, then went back to wherever it came from."

"Well, that sounds like a badly written horror film," said Shalimar as she came in from her workout.

"I wish that was all it was," said Emma.

They filled Shalimar in on what had happened to the latest mutants trying to make it across the border to Canada.

"Should we take the Double Helix and look for evidence?" asked Shalimar.

"I have a team of all humans on the way there now to check it out. We are not sure if it is another mutant that feeds off other mutants," said Adam. "I am not willing to risk any of you yet, plus we have a mission going right here. Lexa, I believe you have found someone that shows promise."

"Yes, on my jog this afternoon. I came upon two teenagers near the old factory at the edge of town. First, I thought that it was just your normal hormonal boy out with a cheerleader. But that was far for it. She had him there to record her. Get your mind out of the gutter gentlemen,"

"What? I did not say anything," said Brennan trying to look innocent.

"Yeah, me either," said Jesse.

"No, but your faces did," said Lexa. "I am sure our resident telepath would back up what your faces just said."

Emma just looked at the guys and gave a small smile, letting them know that they were busted. The guys just looked at each other for a minute with a twinkle in the eyes. Then looked back at Lexa as if nothing happened."

"Ugg, you guys are pigs," said Emma.

"Should not read our mind without permission," teased Brennan.

"Anyway," says Lexa. "I watched her jump off the three-story factory at the edge of town. She had to have broken her neck and arm. She got up like nothing even happened. Then, she did it again and this time she had three ribs sticking out. She did not even realize that they were broken until the boy said something. I saw her shove them back in place and the skin healed over them in no time. I believe that she may have the same healing properties as Wolverine, if not better."

"Who is the girl?" asked Adam pulling up the high school attendance record.

"Her name is Claire Bennett, I followed her and the boy, whose name is Zach. Claire ran into the train fire to rescue a downed firefighter, I could not even go in due to all the smoke," said Lexa. "Her lungs must have healed from all the damage that the smoke would have done to them. I have already inputted her home address in the system."

"I hope that no one else knows about her," stated Shalimar. "I do not want what happened to Logan to happen to her. If some of the organizations know about her. They will come after her so they can use her and turn her into an assassin."

"We must keep her under surveillance, but we have to do it as if she is just a regular mutant," said Adam. "I don't want anyone in here breathing a word that she has super-healing to anyone else outside of this room. We cannot even trust our overseers. I will just put down that she shows some unique invulnerability properties and that we will continue to monitor her when I send the report up. Anything else?"

Everyone was looking at Emma know that she would be the one who would have the most details on the subject. Emma moved over to her console and pulled up her report.

"Ok, this place is a hotbed for mutants and other things too," said Emma. "I have not finished the full report yet, but there are many potential new subjects. I have never run across so many… how, can I say it… unique people. I am not even sure if we are dealing with mutants or something else entirely."

"What?" asked Jesse and Shalimar at the same time.

"Take Stefan Salvatore for example," said Emma pulling up Stefan's report. "He has nothing in his transfer, but the secretary saw his transcripts and filed them away. I saw her memories, but when I look in his record there is an old white napkin in with nothing on it. When I did a surface scan of Stefan's mind, he knew I was there and put up walls. But these walls are not like what a telepath would use, they were different."

"Do you think he is a mutant telepath?" asked Lexa looking over his file, which was almost nonexistent. Just a picture and name.

"No… I wouldn't call him a telepath," said Emma. "I think that he has had some training defending himself against telepaths or other people who can mess with the mind. It is almost as if somehow, his brain has changed."

"A new species, perhaps," thought Adam allowed. "There are some weird reports that have been coming through the chatter. That there is something more than mutants and humans. I will have to do more research before we can know the answer."

"There are more weird teenagers in this school," said Emma. "Than I have seen at Xavier's Mansion."

"I will say that was one of the best Christmas parties I have ever been to," said Jesse with Brennan nodding his head in agreement.

"I have a kid in my class who has excellent agility," said Brennan. "Alek Petrov, he was sitting in his chair at the back of his class like he usually does. I have noticed that he is always able to balance it on the back two legs without any difficulty. He can balance it without using his head or any other body part to prop against the wall. I have told him the one day he would fall. He can balance without thinking about it. When he takes a test, he is balancing himself on two legs. When he raises his hand to answer a question, he can balance himself. Well, today his chair slipped. Don't ask me how. The crazy thing is that he did not fall. He should have but there was standing on his feet, looking around angrily. I would put his agility level at the same level as Shalimar."

"You think that he could be another feral like me?" asked Shalimar looking over Alek's school records that Brennan had pulled up.

"He must be because you are the only one that I know who could have stayed on their feet like that," said Brennan.

"Oh, by the way," said Emma. "The guidance Counselor Ms. Topolsky is an FBI agent."

"Well this is getting interesting," said Lexa. "My contacts at The Dominion said that the shadow branch of the FBI has sent someone here. They could not tell me why. The only they said it was an X-file project. They had no more information."

"Isn't the X-file portion of the FBI about extraterrestrial's?" asked Jesse.

"Yes," said Adam. "From what I know it was closed down years ago, along with project Bluebook that the Air Force was running."

"Do you think that someone knows something and restarted the program?" asked Lexa.

"I am not sure," said Adam looking over the information that Lexa and Emma had each pulled up. "It seems like every nation's intelligence agencies and NGOs have been very active since the crash over the Atlantic and the other things that have been popping up."

"Does anyone have a clue as to what is going on yet?" asked Lexa.

"There are theories, but nothing definite yet," said Adam. "It looks like we have our hands full here."

"That is an understatement," said Brennan. "We have mutants ritualistically murdered; the underground system has been compromised. What are we going to do with the ones that are in transit right now?"

"Our Canadian counterparts have closed their side on the border," said Adam. "The ones in transit have been rerouted. We have protocols for this just in case anyone of our cross points was compromised."

Brennan nodded to that. He hated it when they lost any mutant and took it to heart sometimes. He thought of them getting help for the new mutants as a way he could pay back society to make up for him being a thief earlier in his life.

"The problem is now we are in a holding pattern for the mutants that were the next ones to get on the train," continued Adam. "John is upset about that. There had been some… how can I say it? Leadership difference. Now that the Struckers' are involved. But that is not our concern. John can take care of himself and the others."

"Did they get out of Atlanta ok?" asked Shalimar.

"Yes," said Lexa this time. "Even though they lost their safe house. They were able to move most of the operation away."

"Another good thing is that they were able to rescue several new mutants," said Adam.

"So, what is the plan now?" asked Jesse.

"We continue to gather information here," said Adam. "We know from our reliable sources that several anti-mutant groups are here looking to set up a business. We need to find out what they are doing and shut them down, and rescue as many mutants as we can."

"Well this place seems to have its fair share of them," said Shalimar still reading over Alek's file. Ferals can be territorial at times. Everyone knew that it was just her nature to be wary of new "cats" in the neighborhood. Most Ferals were loners or in pairs unless they had their DNA spliced with a lion. Then they could be comfortable with other cats.

"OK, let play this by the book," said Adam. "You four," pointing at Emma, Brennan, Jesse, and Shalimar. "Continue playing teacher. Get as much information as you can about the new mutants. Emma, can you see if you can get any info from the FBI agent? Remember the main objective is still Principal Gerard. We know that he has ties with some nefarious identities. Don't let him know that we are on to him. But, I have a suspicion that his hands are dirty."

"I am going to hit the showers and do some research on what Emma and Lexa have come up with," said Shalimar.

"Me too on the shower," said Jesse, "I will do some cross-reference on the Canadian-American border to see if I can find anything that will point us in a direction."

"I will see what I can find on our FBI agent," said Lexa sitting at the computer and hacking into the FBI database.

Brennan just nodded and head out the door. Everyone knew that he was going to run around the neighborhood just to make sure the area was safe. Emma started putting data into the computer about possible unique individuals.

"I am going to make some phone calls and see how the rest of the cells are doing," said Adam.


	55. Ch04g Circle Meeting

Cassie dropped her purse on the table. She took a long breath trying to calm herself. She did not know why she was on edge. The magic in her lately felt erratic. They had bound the Circle. That was supposed to help keep the magic in check. But something had changed, and she could not put her finger on it. She just had the deep gut feeling that things were not right.

"Is that you?" yelled her grandmother from upstairs.

"Yes," replied Cassie. "I have some friends coming over. We need to talk about Circle stuff. Can you help us out?"

"Yes," said Jane stepping out of the bathroom, she had just finished her shower. "I will be down in a minute. I made a pot roast for dinner in the crockpot. I will throw some sides together and then we can all eat dinner and discuss things before I have to go to work."

Jane knew that she needed to get in good with this new Circle. The tea leaves made it clear that they would be instrumental in playing a major role in what is coming their way. Jane was still trying to come to grips on what the tea leaves were trying to reveal. She was not even sure she understood what it meant. How could a circle become more and at the same time become less?

Cassie hurried into the kitchen. Her mouth started to water at the smells of her grandmother's cooking. The pot roast was on the counter in the crockpot. Her grandmother had put potatoes and green beans in with it. She could see the onions and parsley in there as well. The smells brought her back to her mom. She would make pot roast every Sunday. Her mother told her it was her grandmother's recipe. She bit back the memories of her mom. The times they would dance in the kitchen as they would cook together. Listening to 70's rock and pop music and dancing wildly when a disco song came on. She loved the time that she spent with her mom. She wished she could go back there. But her mom was dead. Killed in a freak fire incident. Cassie thought that it might have been her dad that ended up killing her. Since he was a psychopath. He was into power and making his children more powerful. Cassie could not believe that she was his daughter. She was so opposite of him. She did not want to have power over people. She just wanted everyone to do whatever made them happy, without hurting someone else.

"Hi kiddo," her grandmother said as she came into the kitchen. She was wearing her navy-blue scrubs that brought out her eyes. Cassie likes the color on her. It made her look younger.

"Hi grandma," Cassie said as she hugged her grandmother. "The pot roast smells divine."

"Thanks," said Jane as she moved to the refrigerator and pull out a large bag of frozen green bean. "How many people are you expecting." She was hoping that all the members of Cassie's Circle would be here. She had told her Circle about what had happened with the tea leaves. They were all worried. Some thought that Jane had misread the tea leaves. When she showed them a picture of the cup, they backed off. Now they were worried. Some thought that it had to do with another one of John Blackwell's schemes to get his Circle back their powers. Jane knew that was a farce. John Blackwell had his powers. Even if it was with dark magic. Jane had a suspicion that he was trying to manipulate Cassie's Circle. But Cassie and her Circle took care of him. Ran him out of town. She hoped to learn what really happened on that day.

She knew that she had to take it slow and play the grandmotherly role to learn the truth from Cassie and her Circle. Cassie's Circle was kept from their knowledge of who they were. The High Elder's Circle thought it was best to not let Cassie's Circle know about their ability with magic. So, they were never taught who they were. But Circle magic had brought them all together despite their best efforts of her Circle to keep them apart. She spoke with members of her Circle and they were perplexed as she was about this Circle coming together. She even got a call from the High Elder Circle asking what was going on. She did not have any answers herself. Now the High elder Circle was sending a representative out. She knew things must be of grave concern if an Elder was coming here to Beacon Hills.

"I hope everyone shows up," said Cassie as she pulled out a pot for her grandmother.

"You think that the pot roast will be enough, or should I order a pizza too?" asked Jane, opening the crockpot and drizzling the au jus sauce over the meat.

"I think that the pot roast will be enough. Melissa and Fay don't eat too much. But, let's make a salad also," said Cassie as she started pulling out lettuce, tomatoes, onions, and cucumbers from the fridge. Jane placed a cutting board on the island and pulled a knife out of the wooden block. Slicing the cucumbers and tomatoes. She enjoyed working in the kitchen with her granddaughter. It was nice how they were in sync.

"I will make some cornbread too," said Jane. "So, how is school?"

"Good," answered Cassie. "Oh, speaking of school. There is a party this weekend. Well, not really a party. Just a bunch of kids getting together in the woods and having a bonfire. They do it every year. It is the last party of the summer. I would like to go if that is OK?"

Jane stopped what she was doing. She looked at her granddaughter. It was that look that every parent or guardian gives their child. It was a look that said I know you are getting older and able to make your own decisions, but all I see is a little girl playing dress-up in the mirror. "Is there going to be anyone special going also?" asked Jane.

"Adam will be there and the rest of the Circle also," said Cassie.

Jane knew that Adam was Ethan Conant's son. She knew that Cassie's father was trying to get them together. She knew about the prophecy concerning them. She was not sure if the prophecy was real or if John Blackwell was trying to genetically increase the magic of his grandchildren. She was not sure if she liked her granddaughter being with Adam. There was always some form of magic or curse put on someone if they are part of a prophecy.

"So, Adam will be there?" stated Jane in the voice that let Cassie know that Jane picked up on her slip of the tongue.

"Yes, he will be there. And Diana, his girlfriend, and my best friend will be there also," said Cassie trying to let her grandmother know that there was nothing going on between them.

"Oh, that must be hard," said Jane gently, reading right through her granddaughter. Knowing that Cassie would never do anything to break up a relationship. Especially her best friend. Now Faye on the other hand would. "To really like someone, and they are in a relationship with your best friend that hurts even more."

"Is it that obvious?" asked Cassie. She knew she could trust her grandmother. She needed someone to talk too. It wasn't like she could talk to Diana, her best friend. How do you say to your best friend, by the way, I think that I have a crush on your boyfriend? Plus, we have a destiny written in the stars that say we are going to be together.

"No, but it must be hard," said Jane. "To watch them together. I am sorry that you are going through this."

"That not all," said Cassie. "I also kind of like Jake also. But I am drawn to Adam for some reason. When I am around him, I know that I am safe. He completes me in some weird way. It is like a puzzle coming together. But, with Jake, there is excitement and adventure. Don't get me wrong I don't think that Adam would be a boring relationship or without passion. It just that Jake is hot-headed and has a bad boy attitude that I think is sexy. He gets me so mad at him sometimes but when he gives me that smirk of his I just melt… But when I look into Adam's eyes. I get lost in them. There is so much behind them. It like he is holding back a dam of desire waiting to release it. I am sorry, I am rambling."

"It is OK," said Jane as she hugged her granddaughter. "It no fun being in a love triangle. I know some women think that they want two guys fighting over them. But in reality, it can be hard to make a choice. Especially when you have affections for both."

"Thanks, grandma," said Cassie wiping tears from her eyes. It felt good to share her emotions with someone. Her grandmother did not push her advice on her. She just allowed her to get emotions out of her system. It felt great.

The doorbell rang. Cassie got up to answer it. Checking herself in the mirror once to make sure her face did not show that she had shed a few tears. There were more important things to consider than her love life. She opened the door and saw Diana standing there. Of course, it was Diana. She was always punctual with everything she does.

"Hi," said Cassie as she opened the door wider. "Come on in."

"Hi," said Diana entering the house. She grabbed Cassie's arm and forced her to look at her. "Is everything OK? Cassie had a hard time keeping things from Diana. She was very observant of a person's state of being. It also did not help that Diana was her best friend. She had been the first to welcome her to town after her mom's death when Cassie had moved here to Beacon Hills.

"Yeah," Cassie said. "I was cutting some onions for the salad." She wanted to tell her that she has this attraction to her boyfriend, Adam. She did not want to be attracted to him. But she could not help it. There was something about him. He was one of those types of guys who were easy to talk with. He treated you like an equal and seemed to be able to bring out the best in people. He had a chill vibe about him. He was the type of guy who had no drama. He was not a mama's boy or some wounded man that needed fixing. Even though he lost his mom during the fateful boat fire that cost everyone in the Circle a parent. He did not let the accident to define him. Those long lashes that surrounded his beautiful hazel eyes of his could mesmerize someone. Plus, he was super cute. She understood what Diana saw him.

She envied Diana because she and Adam were such a perfect couple. Diana with her positive attitude and can-do spirit. He ability to bring out the best in people. They clicked so well with each other. Cassie hated herself for the way she felt about him. It was not like an infatuation that you would get sometimes when you are attracted to someone but know that the flame is going to burn bright and fast if you ever got with them. She was not in middle school anymore where girls had a different crush every other week. This was deeper and the harder she fought against it. The deeper she fell.

"Well, whatever you are cooking smells wonderful," said Diana walking towards the kitchen.

"What you are smelling is my grandmother's pot roast," said Cassie as they enter the kitchen together.

"It smells great," said Diana. "Is there anything that I can help you out with?"

"Thank you," said Jane. "Maybe you can help Cassie set the table."

"Sure," said Diana.

"Are we going to use the good china?" asked Cassie.

"Well, you are on kitchen duty," said Jane. "I have to work later tonight."

"OK, the good china it is," said Cassie as she went to the pantry and pulled out a stack of disposable plates, plastic cups, plastic silverware."

"Good china?" asked Diana looking at the picnic dishes that Cassie brought out.

"Yes," said Cassie. "Since grandma works so much and with me being in school, we decided to use paper plates and stuff. She likes to cook, but it's just the two of us and we both hate doing dishes. It makes clean up so much easier. We call it the 'Good China.' Since it is good for us to have fewer dishes to clean."

Diana laughed and shook her head in understanding. She too was not a fan of doing dishes. The doorbell rang again. Diana continued to place the plates out as Cassie went towards the front door. She heard Faye and Melissa greeting Cassie. Diana looked out the window and saw Adam drive up in his blue Bronco truck. She heard Faye, Melissa, and Cassie talking in the entryway when she heard Faye yell out 'Come on slow poke we have shopping to do.' She could get so frustrated with Faye at times, well most of the time. Faye, in Diana's opinion, was a selfish bitch. She only thought about things that would make her life better. She was always demeaning Melissa her best friend. She did not seem to care about anyone but herself. She had been spoiled by her mother, the vice-principle at their school, who gave Faye everything she wanted after Faye's dad was killed in the boat fire. After he turned 18, his parents had taken out a large life insurance policy on him. Much of that cash went into a trust fund for Faye when she turns eighteen. Diana was not jealous of her having the money. She just did not like the entitled attitude that Faye had.

Cassie and Adam came into the dining room followed by Faye and Melissa. She placed the last of the plastic knives down and smiled at him. He smiled back at her and went over and gave her a kiss on the cheek to say hello. His voice still made her giddy on the inside. She smiled back at him.

"Wow, that smell terrific," said Adam as Jane came in with the pot roast and placed it in the middle of the table.

"Thank you, Adam," said Jane as she went back in to get the rest of the food.

"Well, we have water, tea, or we have some cranberry juice if anyone wants some," said Cassie holding a pitcher of water in one hand and a pitcher of tea in the other and placing them on the table.

"It does smell wonderful," said Melissa. Taking a seat at the table and pouring herself some water.

"Thank you, Melissa," said Jane.

"Yes, it does smell great," said Faye as she also sat down. Jane just nodded at her compliment and went into the kitchen to get more food.

"So, Adam," said Faye as everyone else sat down at the table. "You never answered my text?"

"What text?" asked Adam looking at his phone.

"The one about your doppelganger in Mr. Kilmartin's class," said Faye. "There was a new guy that looked just like you. Except for the haircut and clothes. It was creepy."

"What are you talking about?" asked Adam. "I do not have Mr. Kilmartin."

"That is what I thought," said Faye looking at her phone and scrolling through the pictures until she found the correct one. "But here you are sitting in his class. So, explain this."

Adam took the phone that was shoved into his face and looked at it. There was a picture of a guy that did kind of look like him. He had the same hair color and build as him. Adam felt weird looking at the picture for some reason. The Circle magic in him stirred something deep down inside of him. It was like his magic was trying to tell him that something was not right. Not that he was in danger. Just that something was not right with the guy in the picture.

"That guy does look like me," said Adam passing the phone to Diana. "But he is not me. I don't know what is going on. Do you think that someone decided to make a doppelganger or golem out of me?"

"He does look like you," said Diana, as she handed the phone to Cassie.

"Who looks like you?" asked Jane as she came in with the last dish and sat it down on the table. She could tell that something was off. There was tension in the air. Cassie was looking at a phone and looking at Adam. When no one answered, she left it alone – for now. "OK, you asked me here to talk about some Circle stuff. Well, I am here ready to listen and offer help if I am able. But first, everyone dig in."

"I don't know where to start," said Cassie. The others were also lost for words. The dream that they had and now the Adam look-alike was something they just could not understand.

"Why don't we start by getting food on our plates?" suggested Jane when she saw everyone was hesitant about moving. Whatever happened to them must have been traumatic. "Everyone told me how wonderful it smells. I just hope that it tastes even better than it smells."

Cassie loved her grandma. She knew how to make a tough situation better. Just her getting them to do a small mundane thing, like eating, had the effect of breaking through their despondency. She smiled at her grandmother. Who, with her smile back at Cassie, let her know how much she cares for her.

"Grandma," started Cassie, after everyone had filled their plates. "What does it mean when the entire Circle has the same dream?"

"Well," said Jane as she took a sip of her tea. Clearing her voice. "It can mean several things. One that there is disharmony in the Circle. When you bound your Circle, you subconsciously bound yourself to each other. So, it is not uncommon for everyone to have the same dream. It is like you all share another conscious with each other. When there are unresolved issues in the Circle it can manifest as a dream. It is not uncommon for newly formed Circles to have dreams together as their subconsciousness deals with its new environment."

"That explains why I kept dreaming of Diana's father for the first few days after we bound the Circle," said Faye. "Girl, I think that you have some daddy issues."

"Yeah, dreaming about your mother was not fun either," said Diana the tone in her voice letting Faye know that she was not going to be putting up with her bullshit.

"Grandma," said Cassie trying to stop an argument from happening. "I believe we have had those types of dreams already." She knew that she had. Her dreams had been about Adam. She knew that Adam dreamed about her. She had dreams about everyone in the first couple of weeks once the Circle was bound.

"Why don't you tell me more about your dream?" asked Jane. She had heard a little bit this morning and what she heard put her on edge.

"It was like not a dream, but I knew I was dreaming," said Melissa. She had a faraway look in her eyes. "I could feel Faye and Cassie, well everyone, in the dream with me. I could not see you. But I got the feeling that you were looking for me."

Everyone remembers that part of the dream. It was as if each one of them was looking for Melissa and could not find her. There was a sense of dread that built the harder that they looked for her. They all sensed that something horrendous was going to happen to her.

"That was the worst part of the dream," said Adam.

Everyone knew that Adam and Melissa were not that close. They tolerated each other. But he liked her better than Faye. Adam just saw her as a puppet of Faye. Diana reached over and squeezed his hand, giving him support. She understood what it was like in the dream, she was there also.

"What did you see?" asked Jane.

"At first I saw a strange emblem. It had three spirals coming out of the center. It was a circle with two bands one thick band the other thinner," said Melissa.

"There was something about the emblem," said Diana. "It was like there were two emblems put together."

"When I saw the emblem, it felt like family," said Adam. "It felt safe."

"Like you wanted to be a part of it," said Cassie.

"Mm," said Jane. "Then what?"

"There was blood and glowing eyes," said Faye as if she was seeing it again.

"What did you feel when you saw the blood and glowing eyes?" asked Jane hoping that she was not being too forceful.

"It felt terrifying at first then a sense of protectiveness later," said Cassie. "Especially when the wolves arrived."

"Then the shadow appeared," Melissa. "I never felt so scared in all my life. I could not see anything. But I felt like I was in anguish."

"When the darkness arrived, I saw lightning in the distance," said Faye. "I could see shadows fighting and people dying."

"The feeling that someone or something dangerous was coming," said Cassie she felt like the more she talked about it, the more real her vision became.

The doorbell rang, breaking them out of their thoughts. Cassie was about to get up. But Jane beat her to it.

"I will be right back," said Jane getting up from the table.

"Probably Adam's best friend finally decided to join us," said Faye. She knew that Adam and Jake were both in love with Cassie. Deep down inside she wanted to be the girl that had two hot guys fighting over her. She wanted to be in the position of power. To know that she could make a couple of guys do anything for her. She would have been in heaven. She hated that the only guys who ever went for her were the ones that only wanted to hook-up with her. They did not want to really get to know her. She was envious of Cassie in that way. Guys really seemed to want to get to know her. What aggravated her also was that Cassie was totally clueless about the power she wielded. Faye thought it must be a blonde thing.

"You are just mad because he's not into you anymore," said Adam popping a potato in his mouth.

Melissa dropped her fork on the table and gasped, covering her mouth with her hands. In walked Jake and his brother Nick Armstrong. Nick was supposed to be dead. She went to Nick's funeral. Nick, the boy she had secretly been in love with. Nick was standing right there in front of her. She almost fainted looking at him.

"This must be some kind of joke," Melissa whispered.

"What is this?" yelled Faye reaching for her magic. Since everyone in the Circle was here, she could access it easily.

"Yes, what is this?" asked Cassie her eyes turning black, letting everyone know that she had access to dark magics. If something was going to happen, she was going to be prepared for this.

"CALM DOWN!" shouted Jake. Everyone was so focused on Nick that they hadn't really seen Jake standing there. "I know that this is a shock to everyone. But at least hear him out."

Everyone sat back down at the table. Jane pulled another chair up for Nick to sit at. She placed it beside Jake and across from Melissa, who could not take her eyes off Nick. She still could not believe it was him. He seemed different to her now. More serious, less bad boy. Nick was the one who liked to make potions and try them out. He enjoyed getting high and using his magic to take them even higher. He was a broken boy. She was drawn to broken boys.

"So," said Diana. "What happen to you?"

"You were dead," said Faye. "I went to your funeral and wake. I saw them bury you."

"Ok, this is what I remember," said Nick. "I was possessed by a demon. I remember your father holding me underwater." He nodded to Diana, who looked embarrassed. "Then next I wake up in a dark place. I don't know who I am or where I am. I was in a coffin; I figured that part out later. I scream. I try to get out of it. I can't. I realize that I am buried alive. I am almost to the point of giving up on life. When I hear some scraping coming from above me. Once I am free, there is this guy who introduced himself as Callum, helping me out of the hole. I had no memory. He said that I was his best friend and that he used voodoo to help me escape from some evil witches."

"That worthless piece of shit," cried out Faye, who knew about Callum and his connection to voodoo magic. "When I see him, I am going to show him what real magic is about."

"Anyway," continued Nick. "He thought that I would be able to my access my magic and teach him. I did learn some actual voodoo magic. But since Callum hexed me not to remember anything after my death. I could not access my Circle magic. Well, my so-called best friend became angry with me that I could not. He tried different Voodoo spells and chants to help me access my Circle magic. But it didn't work. He even took me to a voodoo high priest. When that failed to get the results he wanted, he just kept me around to do menial tasks at his store. Saying that I owe it to him, because he saved me from the evil witches. But that all changed last night when I had a dream. I woke up this morning and I remember everything."

Everyone looked at him, then to Cassie. She was looking at Jake to determine if he was trying to convey a secret message, or did he believe that this was really his brother. The one that Diana's father held underwater in order to drive the demon out of him. Cassie knew that Callum tried to manipulate Faye and Melissa into learning their secrets. The problem with Callum is that he did not believe that Circle magic could only be born into. You could not learn it. Only if you had an ancestor who was able to use magic could you use Circle magic. Cassie also knew that voodoo magic was real too. Not as strong as Circle magic though. But it could put someone in a near-death coma for a week and allow them to come back alive.

"How do we know that he is not a Gollum or doppelganger?" asked Faye. "Like what we have going on with Adam."

"I am not a Gollum or doppelganger," said Adam pointedly looking at Faye, who just rolled her eyes at him.

"Faye we will get to your concern in a minute," said Cassie, turning to Nick. "Tell me about this dream.

Jane was so pleased that her granddaughter was using her head. She knew that everyone wanted to believe Nick. It looked like Melissa was ready to jump across the table and kiss the guy. The look on Jake's showed relief in that he was not the last person in his family. Diana and the rest looked skeptical. But it was Cassie who put forth a plan to determine if this was really their Nick.

"It had so many shadows," said Nick he got a faraway look in his eyes as he spoke. "The shadows kept coming in and out. There were wolves and people with glowing eyes. I could sense that Melissa was in trouble. I tried to reach her but couldn't. There was this strange symbol. Three circles spiraling out surrounded by two circles, one thicker than the others. At first when I saw the symbol. I was afraid. Then it gave me comfort and it felt like family or home. It is hard to describe. I just knew that I need to be a part of it. I felt that our Circle had changed it was bigger and closer but at the same time different, like different magic was added to it. There were shadows that terrified me. I felt like I was being terrorized. I felt that what happened to Melissa was the worse than all of us and that we needed to find her."

Everyone was quiet. Nick just told them exactly what they were feeling with the dream that they had. When he told his story, they could feel what he was saying. It was as if they were reliving the dream again.

"Let me say," said Jake. "I am glad that I have my baby brother back."

Nick smiled at his brother. The smile was not lost on Melissa. She had seen it a couple of times when Nick allowed his guard to be down. It was a genuine smile. Not the bad boy smirk that he usually gave. She had to look away because his smile was making her want to go over there and hug him.

Adam got up and did hug him. He and Nick were friends, not best friends, but they did seem to hit it off. Nick was brasher and Adam more reserved. But they got along great. Diana was next to hug him. She even had tears in her eyes when she welcomed him back. Those two did not always see eye to eye. But one thing that could be said about Diana is that she cared about people, especially those in her Circle. Cassie came next, her eyes back to normal. She hugged him also relieved that he was alive. Faye even got into the action and hug him. Telling him that he better not be a Gollum or doppelganger and if he was, she would take care of him. Melissa did not hug him. She wanted to wait until they were alone to show him how much she missed him. Nick just looked at her and nodded, she smiled in response. They both knew that they had much to catch up on.

"Do you know who this voodoo priest is?" asked Jane once everyone was finished hugging and loving on Nick.

"He went by the name of Papa," said Nick.

"Thank you," said Jane. "I will inform my Circle about what has happened. We cannot have some voodoo priest wannabe putting a hex on one of our Circle witches. So, don't worry about him. We will take care of him and Callum also."

Everyone at the table got a little quiet. They all knew that Jane was deadly serious about teaching this guy name Papa and Callum a lesson. It was scary how Cassie's grandma went from nice lady to gangster hitman in a blink of an eye.

"Nick it is nice that you are back," said Jane turning back into the nice grandma. "I am sure that the Circle feels more complete now with you back."

"Thanks," said Nick feeling a little embarrassed at the grandmotherly sentiment that she had shown him.

"Great, Nick is back," said Faye breaking the awkward silence that seems to have settled over them. "What are we going to do with Adam's Gollum or doppelganger?"

Adam just rolled his eyes. He was not sure if Faye was messing with him or if something was really going on. Faye could have a cruel sense of humor sometimes. But there was some concern in her voice this time.

"I am not a Gollum or Doppelganger," said Adam. "I am me."

"Should we be worried that whoever did this to Nick could be coming after Adam next?" asked Melissa. She was still looking at Nick as if she could not believe he was really there.

"How do we know that Adam did not have something to do with Nick's kidnapping," said Jake looking at Adam with anger in his eyes.

"I had nothing to do with Nick's kidnapping, he could be a Gollum or a doppelganger," yelled Adam. "How do we know you did not do something to your brother so that you can get into the Circle?"

Jake and Adam stood trying to attack each other from across the table. There was no love lost between the two. Nick stood to hold back Jake, while Diana and Cassie were holding Adam back. Jake liked Cassie and wanted to get together with her. He had been making progress. But he also knew that Adam had a crush on her and was trying to cause trouble for them. Adam just needed to know his place according to Jake. Adam thought that Jake was too brash and reckless to really care about Cassie. He only wanted one thing from her. He was a love them and leave them type of guy.

"ENOUGH!" yelled Jane standing up, holding a crystal. Magic was crackling in the air all around her. "Sit down and we will get to the bottom of this."

Everyone went back to their seats. Jake shrugging off his brother's arm before he sat down in a huff. He and Adam looked at each other, both letting each other know that this was not over. Cassie just rolled her eyes at the amount of testosterone that was in the air.

"OK, now that everyone is settled," said Jane. "We can find out if Adam or Nick is a Gollum or doppelganger. Melissa will you go to the living room and get me the candle off the fireplace, please."

"Yes ma'am," said Melissa getting up to get the candle.

"If everyone has finished eating," said Jane. "Faye, can you and Cassie please clear the table."

No one was quite finished with their plates but no one was really ready to continue eating, they had lost their appetites due to the tension in the air. Cassie and Faye had the table cleared by the time Melissa came back with the candle. She handed it to Jane, who took it and sat it in the middle of that table.

"Each one of you has much to learn about Circle magic," Jane lectured them. "When the Circle is not in tune with each other. It can cause lots of strife and anxiety. When you are not in harmony with each other, your magic can get out of control or not work at all. So it is important that you learn how to live with each other in harmony. If not, when you practice your magic it could backfire on you and cause you harm or death. That is why it is best if Circle members don't date. This can cause problems for everyone. Just look at what happened to your parent's Circle. Half of them did not survive. All because they let the attraction to each other interfere with the magic. I am telling you this for your own good. The Elder Circle stripped them of the powers and decided to not to tell you anything about Circle magic. That was wrong."

Everyone was stunned at the revelations that Jane had told them. Each one of them had discovered their magic on their own. Some of them, like Diana and Cassie, found their parent's spellbook that explained some things to them. Jake, after losing both his parents, got used and trained by witch hunters.

"Now, a Gollum or doppelganger cannot do Circle magic," said Jane. "So I want everyone to embrace the magic of the Circle. I just want you to access it with the others around."

Jane waited until she was sure everyone in the room had accessed the magic. She could feel that they had all access the magic. Their eyes sparkled with magic, she could tell that Cassie was not using the Dark Magic that she had access too. She was using Circle magic which Jane was thankful for. Dark magic was dangerous and she worried that one day it would consume her granddaughter.

"Now, Adam I want you, and only you, to light the candle," said Jane.

Adam accessed the magic. He felt so alive and free when he accessed his magic. He was still angry with what Jake had accused him of. He was also shocked that his and Diana's relationship might cause the Circle harm. But deep down inside of him, in a place he sends things that he does not want to deal with or believe, he was worried about what this could mean for a possible relationship with Cassie.

"Fire, bright, fire, light," said Adam, as a flame appeared on the wick of the candle, burning bright.

"Now, put it out," said Jane.

"Wind, blow, wind, dim," said Adam. As the small flame was extinguished.

"Now you try Nick," said Jane. She could tell that everyone was a little apprehensive when Nick started to draw on the magic. She understood why they all thought this way. Nick was supposed to be dead and here he is very much alive and talking to them.

Nick did the same spell. Lighting the candle and extinguishing it. Jane looked around and saw visible relief coming from Melissa, and for some reason Jake also, when Nick did the spell. She figured that Jake was still processing that his brother was alive. The boy had been through so much recently, he probably thought it was too good to be true.

"What if one of them has a crystal?" asked Faye looking at Adam. She still did not believe that he was who he says he is. "I mean, having a crystal can give a non-magic user access to magic that allows them to do spells."

"I don't have a crystal," said Adam resting his elbows on the table and burying his head in his hands out of frustration.

"She's right," said Nick this time before another argument could start between everyone. "I could feel everyone else was hesitant when I accessed the magic. I know that you have questions, trust me when I got my memories back, I had those questions too. But it is me. You may search me if you need to see if I have a crystal."

Nick got up and removed his shirt. Melissa could not help but stare at his chest. She like his pecs they were sexy to her. His eyes never left hers as he proceeded to remove more of his clothes.

"Keep your clothes on," said Jane. "I am not having naked teenagers running around my house. What would the neighbors think?"

Jane brought out her cell phone and texted her Circle. Once she felt that everyone in her Circle was in sync. She opened herself to the magic, feeling the power and freedom that came with it. She held up her crystal and mumbled the spell under breath. She did not want anyone in this Circle to know how to do this spell yet.

"Adam, Nick please stand," she said as she held the crystal out in front of her. It started to glow a light red. Then the red color deepened. Once it got to the color of blood, a white light pulsed out of it, hitting everyone. The light was gone in a blink of an eye, everyone was blinking their eyes trying to get the focus back after being temporary blinded.

"There are no crystals or voodoo spells at work here," said Jane sitting down. She felt a little drained. Using Circle magic along with a crystal could take a toll on the caster. She needed to make sure the spell was powerful enough to break through any spell or enchantment that might have been on any crystal any of them may have had. She too had her doubts about both boys.

"Grandma are you ok?" asked Cassie going over to her.

"Yes," said Jane. "I am fine, doing that much magic away from your Circle can be a taxing effort."

"You sure?" asked Cassie the worry evident in her voice and on her face. She did not want to lose her grandmother; she was the last close family Cassie had. Except for her dad, but she wrote him off.

"Yes, yes, I just need a drink of water," said Jane as she finished her glass of water. "Oh, my! Look at the time. I am going to be late for my shift at the hospital."

Jane got up from the table and gave a big hug Cassie to let her that she was fine, now that she was getting her strength back. She knew that her Circle was channeling magic to her to help restore her. Cassie and her Circle did not need to know that.

"Now, I expect the kitchen to be clean before I get home," said Jane as she hurried out the door. Her phone in her pocket already receiving text messages from her Circle, she surmised.

"Well, we need to be going also," said Faye interlocking her arm with Melissa's. "We need to find the perfect outfit."

Melissa was dragged along by Faye towards the door. She stopped in front of Nick and looked at him for a second, making it awkward in the room. Someone cleared their throat and brought her back to reality.

"Do you want to come with?" she asked Nick.

"Um, uh, … I think I will stay with my brother," said Nick looking a little nervous. "I need to get things squared away at the house and stuff."

"Ok… I will see…," Melissa started to say but was interrupted by Faye dragging her out the door. Everyone could hear the "Ow!" coming from her as she was pulled out the door.

"We need to get things set up in the house," said Jake to the others. "Now that Nick is back, I need to turn his room back into his room."

They watched them leave. The Armstrong's house was next door to Cassie and her grandmother's house. So, they did not have far to go. Once they were out of hearing range, Diana was the first to break the silence.

"Did the Circle magic seem different to you?" she asked.

"Yes," said Cassie and Adam together. Diana was not lost on how in sync they were with each other sometimes.

"It does not feel like it is a bad thing though," said Adam. "It feels like it has grown. I know that it sounds weird, but I don't know how else to explain it."

"No, I agree," said Cassie. "Ever since the dream. I have felt something different."

"I think that when we bound the Circle. Nick was a part of it," said Diana. "Then after his 'death', Jake became part of it. Now that Nick is alive the Circle has been expanded."

"Is it only supposed to have six members?" asked Adam.

"We were always waiting for Cassie to complete our Circle," said Diana. "We know that our grandparents stripped our parents of their powers and did not tell us anything about magic. We had to learn on our own. The magic made sure that we came together. It takes six to make a Circle. Now that we have seven, I am not sure what will happen. But I feel stronger now that Nick is back."

"Maybe the Circle is trying to prepare us for what is coming," said Cassie. "The dream must mean something or else we wouldn't have had the same dream. There has to be more to this than we know."

"I agree," said Adam. "From everything we know. Our Circle is unique."

"Agreed," said Cassie and Diana.


	56. Ch04h Old and New Enemies

Renesmee finished her homework and went downstairs to join the others. Everyone was in the big living room. The living room faced west and had huge windows that gave a spectacular view of the meadow that was about two-hundred-yards-long that ended at the tree line. The reflective coating on windows kept prying eyes out but enabled the people on the inside to see perfectly fine.

As she entered the room, she saw Emmett and Rosalie standing near the glass. They were holding hands. She could tell that they were soaking up the sun as it was low on the horizon. They were looking over the meadow, probably thinking about their next kill surmised Renesmee. Jacob was lounging on the sofa, throwing a small bean bag up into the air and catching it. He turned and looked at her and smiled. She smiled back. Jacob sat up so that she could sit next to him.

Leah and Embry were sitting on the love seat looking at their phones. Playing a game. Quil and Seth walk in followed by Carlisle and Esme, each of them have a dish of food. At the smell of food. Leah and Embry looked up and headed towards the table, putting their phones away. She looked at Jacob and they both headed to the table also.

Esme loved cooking for the wolves, and they loved her cooking. For supper today they had deer, bear, and goat. Alice and Jasper came in with goblets of blood for the vampires. It was a new thing that the wolves came up with actually. When they prepared the animals for jerky, there was blood left over. The wolves would gather it up and put it into containers. When the vampires needed blood, they would pour some in a glass, microwave it, and the vamps would have blood for themselves. This led to a decrease in the number of kills the vampires had to perform.

They all sat at the dining room table. Once Carlisle finished saying grace, the wolves dug into the meal that was prepared for them. Esme looked on with fondness on the way her adoptive children ate. There was small talk around the table, but everyone was waiting for Edward to finish his goblet of blood. Edward took a big swig from the goblet, he timed it right so that everyone could enjoy their food and drink without having to interrupt for something they needed off the table.

"How was everyone's day?" asked Esme getting the conversation started.

The vampires turned and looked at Edward as the wolves continued to eat, refraining from talking to one another as they waited on Edward to tell them what was going on.

"As you know from Alice's vision," Edward started by saying. "The world is not like it was. I am not sure I fully grasp what is going on. But I will say that our world has gotten a lot more crowded. When we were in our reality there were only vampires, Children of the Moon, and shapeshifters like the Quileute's."

"Are you saying that we have witches, zombies, and mummies," said Emmett trying to be funny but even his constant jovial mood could not lift the seriousness of what was going on.

Edward smiled at him. He loved his brother dearly. He knew that he used humor to hide his insecurities. Edward took a minute to gather his thoughts. He brought out a tablet that he had on his lap and took a sip from his goblet while powering it on.

"I thought it would be easier if I show everyone some pictures of who I am talking about," said Edward pulling up the first picture.

Everyone saw four teenagers sitting at the lunch table, two boys and two girls. The blonde-haired boy and girl looked like they might be related. The other dark-haired boy looked like he was of Hispanic descent while the girl looked to be of African descent.

"The dark hair boy is named Marco, he is best friends with the blond guy named Jake," said Edward pointing to each person on the screen. "The blonde girl is Jake's cousin, Rachel, and her best friend is Cassie."

Everyone started to get up to see the screen better. Embry growled at Leah when their heads collided into each other. Jake had to pull Leah back from striking Embry.

"Can I suggest?" asked Carlisle. "That we move into the living room. That way you can project the pictures on to the TV and we can get a better look at who Edward is talking about."

The pack looked at Esme. They knew that she kept a spotless house. She did not allow food in the living room. The wolves were still eating and were torn between eating and hearing what Edward had to say.

"Seth can you please go into the garage and look for the TV trays. Leah can you make sure everyone has plenty of napkins, especially Emmett, he sometimes drools." Esme said, grabbing her goblet and heading towards the living room.

Seth dashed off to get the trays. The vampires all took drinks from their goblets - just to make sure that the blood was nowhere near the brim before they took them with them into the living room. Jacob grabbed two chairs and headed out of the room. Quil started piling his plate with food. Renesmee grabbed some bread and put it on her plate before Quil took it all.

Seth returned in with his arms full of the TV trays. He set one down in front of each of the wolves, he noticed that none of the vampires were sitting on the white furniture except for Esme and Carlisle. Alice and Jasper were standing near the window drinking their drinks. Emmett was using the remote to get the TV to sync with Edward's tablet. Bella was coming out of the kitchen. She must have finished her goblet because she did not have it in her hand. She sat in one of the big comfy white chairs near her husband.

The wolves had set the chairs in front of the television but with enough space that someone could slip by if the need. Quil had taken some paper towels and laid them all around his chair. He loved Esme cooking and wanted to make sure that he did not make a mess. He was worried that if he did Esme might not cook for them again.

"Ok try casting now," said Emmett.

Edward pressed his finger on the tablet and looked at the TV. This was the picture that Edward was trying to show them earlier on the screen."

"Well, this is easier," said Embry absently rubbing his head at the spot where Leah bumped it.

Renesmee let out a little laugh. Embry just looked at her and was about to say something smart back at her. However, looking at Jacob, he thought better of it. Instead, he went back to cutting the meat on his tray and eating.

"As you know we have a certain effect on humans when they see us," Edwards says. Everyone knew that the vampire venom caused vampires to be alluring for humans. "We had the same effect on these four also. But once they got over their first reaction, they were worried that we might be Controllers."

"Controllers?" asked Jasper he wasn't asking Edward he was looking at his wife. She had that faraway look on her face. Everyone knew she was seeing a vision of possibilities.

"I see small worm-like creatures," she said. "I also see humans. My vision of them is overlapping. They were on one of the spaceships I saw when I was with Jasper." Everyone knew that she was referring to the day that the multiple dimensions were merged into one.

"So, are these the aliens that are going to invade?" ask Renesmee. Jacob could tell that she was afraid. He pulled his chair next to her and held her close. Bella moved from the chair she was sitting in and moved to stand behind Reneesme. Her hand stroking the top of her head before leaning in to kiss the top of it. Letting her know that she would be protected.

Edward was looking at Alice. "These are aliens, but they are not the same ones that are going to invade. They are already here; they use stealth to invade a world. They infest key personnel and leadership. Then once they get control, they slowly take over the rest of the population. Now, humans are human, but they know about these worm-like aliens. They call them Yeerks," he said.

"Are there any Yeerks around us now?" asked Reneesme.

"Yes," said Edward. He did not want to tell his daughter that, but he knew that she needed to know the truth. She would be hurt if he withheld the information. "Jake's brother Tom has been infected. Jake and his friends know about it and are trying to save him. By the way, they can communicate amongst themselves, they figured out that I could read minds. But I fooled them into believing that I could not. They might be easy to convince them that we mean them no harm."

"Sorry to hear about his brother, it must be awful for him," said Reneesme taking a sip of her blood and snuggling into Jacob's embrace. She still did not like the idea that a worm could get into your brain and control you.

"Don't worry I will squash any worm that gets near you," said Jacob.

"What about when you sleep?" asked Renesmee. "I mean you have to sleep sometimes, and I sleep. What if they crawled into our ears when we are asleep?"

"Luckily, you live in a house with people who do not have to sleep," said Jacob.

"Plus, we have excellent hearing," said Jasper. His words had the effect of alleviating Renesmee's fears. Letting her know that they would hear them before any worms could get close.

"The next part is somewhat difficult to describe," said Edward.

Seth's eyebrows rose with that statement as he stuffed a huge piece of meat in his mouth. Renesmee tried to hide a smirk from her face. Her father was always eloquent with his words and was never at a loss with them.

Edward looked at them with a small smile barely creasing his lips. "These kids," said Edward pointing at the TV screen, trying to get everyone focus on the image on the screen. "I got the impression that they know what it is like to be a bird, frog, wolf, lion, etc. It is like they have been these animals."

"Are they shapeshifters like us?" asked Jacob. Studying the picture of the kids on the screen.

"Not sure," said Edward.

"Do you think that they can change into more than one animal type?" inquired Carlisle his scientific mind intrigued by the idea.

"But, how would they live with all them inside trying to get out?" said Embry.

"I am not sure; they call their shape-shifting morphing," said Edward. "I know that they can change into different animals. I believe that they use their morphing abilities to fight the Controllers. In the lunchroom, they were hoping that I was an Andalite. From what I could tell an Andalite is a blue centaur looking creature. The creature did not worry them, it was their ally and friend. They were very concerned with Controllers, and someone called Visser Three."

"Their emotional states were ones of emotional exhaustion," said Jasper. "Similar to people who have been in combat for a while, they are beginning to show signs of PTSD."

"Do you think that they could harm us?" asked Emmett.

Edward just looked at him and shrugged. "If they can only morph into animals, we should be ok, unless for some reason they can enhance the animal. We won't know until we see their abilities."

Edward tapped on the tablet again. The picture changed on the television, it showed three teenage boys and two teenage girls. Two of the boys were brunettes one was a blond. Both girls were blonde, one with straight hair, the other had long curls.

"The two dark-hair guys and the straight blonde hair girl are humans. They reacted typically when they saw us, especially the bigger brunette boy when he saw Rosalie."

Rosalie just rolled her eyes. She was used to people ogling her. But her eyes and heart belonged to Emmett completely. Emmett just smiled a predatory grin at the television. Letting Rosalie know that he would not let someone come between them. She casually swatted her hand on his chest to let him know to calm down. But everyone knew that she loved it when he got a little jealous. Their lovemaking was more intense when he was being competitive in his mind with someone else.

"The blond guy and curly hair girl," said Edward trying to not read Rosalie and Emmett's mind. "They were not in the least bit attracted to us."

"Now you know how the rest of us feel," smirked Jacob.

Rosalie just glared at him. She had gotten used to people being drawn to her. She thought it would nice if she was around people who wanted to be around her just for her, not just for her looks.

"The blond who goes by John at school. But his known by Four to his friends. He and the curly blonde girl, Six, are aliens from what I could gather. They are running from something called the Mogadorians. I don't know if these are the ones that are going to attack us or not. Alice do you know?"

Alice got a faraway look on her face. She was looking at all the possibilities that would come to her family. Everyone knew that she was having difficulties since there were so many new super-naturals in the world. It was harder for her to see far into the future.

"It is hard to tell," said Edward interpreting Alice's vision for everyone. Alice had trouble putting into words what she was seeing. "There are many black voids that Alice cannot see around when she looks at them."

"Do you think that they can be part of an advanced force trying to get intel on us?" asked Jasper.

"I did not get that from them," said Edward. "The blond guy, Four, can read minds in a way. It is not like me. But he can communicate with animals. In a way, Jacob, he was really interested in you. He could not figure out how you could have a wolf mind and a human one also."

"He needs to stay out of my mind," growled Jacob. Reneesme snuggled in closer to him. Making him calm down some.

"He also tried to communicate with me," said Edwards. "He knew that I could read minds also. He resisted me getting a clearer picture of what he was thinking about. But he did try to give me a picture of tattooed humanoid."

"You think that he is some kind of a shield?" asked Bella looking a little worried. She did not like it that people could block out her husband. They were all relying on him to tell friend from foe. It was nice to have someone around who could read minds. It could be tiring for Edward, especially with teenage boys around Rosalie.

"I don't think so, more like he has a different mind-reading ability than mine," said Edward. "He is geared towards animals; mine isn't."

"I wonder if he would be able to communicate with us in our wolf form," said Quil out loud. All the other wolves just looked at him each thinking of what that could mean.

"Wow, that would be nice," said Embry, "Not having to keep shifting between a wolf and human when Edward is not around to relay the messages. It gets tiring to have to constantly take off and put on clothes." The others just laughed at him. He was the most modest out of the wolves, especially around the vampires.

"Another mind reader would also allow them to trust us easier," said Esme.

"Maybe," said Edward. "But I am not sure if he can read minds like me. His was different than mine. I got the impression that when his mind made contact with an animal's mind, he was able to bridge that gap between higher and lower cognition. Don't ask me how but he can do it, but he does."

"How have you been holding up?" asked Carlisle.

"I am doing well," replied Edward. "For so long, I have grown used to blocking people's thoughts out. I was able to read most of the minds that I saw in Alice's vision."

"Is there another shield?" asked Bella picking up on what Edward had said.

"I don't think so," said Edward. He ran his fingers over the tablet and another picture appeared on the screen. "This is Cameron Smith. I could not read her mind at all."

"I got no emotions off of her either," said Jasper. "I even tried to manipulate some for her. But got no response."

"Is she a shield?" asked Bella again.

"No," said Edward with a small smile.

"Well if she isn't a shield and Jasper can't read her emotions, she must be a robot or something" smirked Embry.

"Correct," said Edward.

"What? No way," said Quil.

"Yeah," said Embry. "She is so hot." Embry was the only male wolf who had not found his imprint yet.

Leah just rolled her eyes and reached out and swatted him on the back of the head bringing him out of teenage hormones. "How did you find out that she is a robot if you could not read her mind?" she asked.

Edward again ran over the tablet and the picture disappeared, in its place was a new one. This time it was of a young man with brown hair wearing non-descript clothing.

"This is John Smith," said Edward. "His real name is John Connor. He is a great leader in the future." The wolves were looking at him like he lost his mind, the vampires just waited for him to explain his strange statement. "According to what I have read of his mind. In his timeline, man created an artificial intelligence called Skynet. It was supposed to keep mankind safe. Instead, something happened and it turned on mankind. It launched a nuclear strike against mankind, billions died. But mankind rose-up and John lead them to fight against the machines. The machines adapted and created robots that are called terminators to hunt humans. They managed to infiltrate many of the human resistances and took out several leaders but were unsuccessful in taking out the top leadership. They knew who the leader was and finally found a way to get him. They unlocked the secret of time travel and sent a terminator to kill his mom before he was born. Well, future John figured it out and sent someone to protect his mom. There have been many terminators sent back to kill him. So, the future John sent this reprogrammed a terminator to protect him."

"That is so sad," said Esme. "Constantly living in fear that someone is coming from the future to kill you."

"He just wants to be a regular teenager," said Edward.

"That is so sad," said Rosalie.

"How strong is this terminator?" mused Emmett out loud.

"From what I saw in his memory," said Edward. "They are very durable and very strong. From what I saw they are no faster than a normal human. Their endurance is very remarkable."

Emmett just smirked to himself and stretched his body while raising his arms over his head allowing all his muscles to bulge all over his body. Everyone knew that Emmett was very protective of the ones he considered his family and relied on his strength to help keep his family safe. There were not too many vampires that were stronger than Emmett. Knowing that there might be something even stronger than they unnerved all of them. None of them were excited that there were somethings that might be stronger than Emmett. Rosalie rubbed his back reassuring him that he was still her knight in shining armor.

Edward pressed his fingers on the tablet again. He was about to say something but stopped. He looked over at Alice. She had this faraway stare in her eyes. Edward saw what she was seeing. She was getting better at seeing around the wolves. She could see Jacob's decisions clearly; Seth and Leah were coming into focus more and more each day as her gift became more familiar around them. Everyone else was also looking at Alice now. The room was quiet, the wolves had even stopped their chewing. Everyone knew that when Alice went into her little trances that things were going to change.

Alice shook her head and smiled. "It is time to meet the new neighbors," she said. Turning to Jasper she said "I believe we need to go for a jog around the lake. Emmett, no putting pebbles in Jasper's shoes this time because you cheated to get there first." The wolves were confused by what she meant. The vampires were not, they knew that what Alice meant. When they first started being a family and moved into a new area. If they had neighbors near them, they tried to find ways for them to accidentally meet them. In the older days, neighbors were more curious about their new neighbors. There were always several ladies bringing pies or other baked items to the Cullens to meet and welcome them to the neighborhood, even if the ladies lived several miles away from them. Now, people did not have as much free time as many mothers and wives entered the workforce. In the more modern era, drop-ins did not happen as often, if ever. The vampires would try to find different ways to meet their human neighbors, especially the kids their own age. One of the ways they devised to meet the kids was to run into in the woods, they would let Emmett win the race and blame it on cheating because he put a pebble in Jasper's shoe.

Jacob got up to get ready to move with the rest of the Pack. "No," said Alice stopping them in their tracks. "Just Emmet, Rosalie, Jasper, and me." Jacob was about to open his mouth to argue. He did not like the vampires going off without some wolf protection. Now that he and Renesmee were imprinted, he considered them part of his pack. He was Alpha and could not help to act that way towards them. Most of the time the vampires just put up with it except for Emmett, who loved to goad Jacob when he tried to go Alpha on them sometimes. He did it as a big brother messing with a younger brother. But for all their alpha wolf and alpha vampire chest swelling towards each other in the beginning when the pack moved in, they had each other's backs.

"Carlisle is going to get a phone call soon," said Alice. "You and the pack will need to be here for that. Edward, Bella, and Seth go to the mountain. Carlisle and Esme to Alaska. The others tell Sam that I said hello and be careful of her."

Jacob sat back down, as did the other wolves, to finish their meal. They were still on alert with what Alice had said. They were used to Alice giving cryptic answers. So they would wait until they needed to act. Edward looked back at the tablet and disconnected it from the TV. He would finish his report later.

Alice finished her drink and looked over at Rosalie, Emmett, and Jasper. "We're going for our jog around the lake. Emmett, you need to go first. We will catch up later, and don't kill him when he sees Rosalie."

Edward watched them leave to change into athletic clothes. He saw Alice's mind and knew what some of the possibilities were. He was more concerned with the phone call that Carlisle was going to receive. There was a chance that he would never get one. But as soon as the others left for their jog, Carlisle's phone rang.

"Eleazar, is everything alright?" asked Carlisle as he answered the phone. Jacob and the rest of the pack finished their meal quickly and started to clear the dishes and put the furniture that they had got from the garage away. They did not need to be in the same room as Carlisle to hear the conversation. They all tried to ignore what was being said. Everyone in the house gave the person on the phone privacy out of respect. But most were listening now since Alice's vision had told them to expect a call. The wolves were interested in why they would be going back to La Push and the reservation. Most were excited to be going back and seeing family.

"Hi, Carlisle," said Eleazar. "I will get right to the point. Irina and Laurent have just shown up here."

"Say that again?" said Carlisle. It was not that he thought that is friend was a liar. He just wanted to make sure that he heard him correctly.

"They came in about an hour ago. Laurent said that he woke up in the woods where he had the confrontation with the Quileute wolves. He said that he remembers the altercation and being dismembered. Then something happened and he said his body came back together. Irina said the same thing, but she remembers what the Volturi did to her. She remembers Caius burning her. She said she awoke in the field. That she doesn't know how it happened. She told us that she was heading here to Alaska when she ran into Laurent in the woods. They both headed this way."

"This is remarkable," said Carlisle. "Do they appear to be who they say that they are?"

"Yes," said Eleazar. "I can tell that they are who they say they are; not just because they say so, unless, someone is fooling my abilities. Let me just say that they caused quite a scare for us up here. We thought we were seeing ghosts."

"Do you think that the Volturi know?" asked Carlisle.

"I am not sure," said Eleazar. "But Laurent did say that he saw Victoria running through the woods."

"What?!" exclaimed Carlisle. Everyone else rushed into the room. Even though they tried to Carlisle his privacy on a phone call with his friend. The tone that he had used alerted everyone that there was a major problem. Carlisle was normally levelheaded when he was faced with a problem. Even when he learned that the world had changed, he processed the information logically and rationally. This outburst was out of character for him.

"Victoria is back," said Carlisle.

The room erupted in disbelief and doubts about what they had heard. Renesmee did not understand what was exactly going. She wasn't sure who Victoria was and why everyone so worried about her. Seth kept saying that he saw her head get ripped off by Edward and was lit on fire. Edward was agreeing with him. Bella was asking if it was true and how could she be back and if Victoria was becoming after them since they killed her mate. Esme was asking Carlisle if Eleazar had misheard him. Renesmee watched has Edward was closer to Bella almost have if trying to protect her from unseen dangers. Embry, Quil, and Leah keep looking out and turning their noses towards the windows for any signs of danger.

"Who is Victoria?" asked Renesmee loud enough to get everyone's attention.

"Before you were born," said Bella. "She and two other vampires, Laurent and James. Made their way into our territory one day when we were playing baseball. James' ability is that of a hunter. He got a whiff of me and wanted to hunt me. He saw it as a sport if he could get through the family to kill me. The family tried to save me by making me go to Phoenix. But that did not fool him. He attacked me and your dad and the rest took care of him before he could kill me. He was the mate of Victoria. She wanted revenge, so she made an army of newborns in Seattle and they came and attacked us. But they failed. We thought that they were all killed. But Laurent is apparently back so is Irina."

Renesmee took in all the information for a minute. "Do you think that they are all back?" she asked.

Jacob took out his phone and called Sam as he headed out the living into the kitchen putting his glass away. Quil and Embry did the same. Leah kept looking out the window to make sure all was safe.

"I have booked us two tickets to Anchorage tonight," said Esme has she looked up from her phone. Carlisle smiled at her. He loved it that she was so in tune with him, anticipating his needs and wants before he had said anything.

"Just spoke with Sam," said Jacob as he walked into the room followed by Quil and Embry. "Something is barring them from going to the area where we fought the newborns. He and the rest of the pack can smell the leeches there but can't get to them. An invisible shield is around them."

"Interesting," said Carlisle. "Did Sam say he could see the newborns?"

"He did not say he could see them," said Jacob. "Just that the area has a strong smell of vampires. The same ones that we fought before."

"Edward," said Carlisle. "You and Bella go with Jake and the pack to Forks and check things out. Esme and I will go to Alaska to see our cousins."

"Are we going to drive or run there?" asked Renesmee.

"Babe I think that he would be better if you and Leah stayed here," said Jacob walking up to her and grabbing her hands. Jacob knew that Edward and Bella would feel better if their daughter stayed back also. Plus, he knew that Leah was not yet ready for a reunion yet with Sam. She was over him but just barely.

"You just don't think that I can fight," said Renesmee.

"I know you can," said Jacob trying not to belittle her confidence. She had been training regularly with Emmett and the pack on ways to protect herself. She was still a novice when it came to fighting others though. She did not have the killer instinct that most vampires had. She had too much empathy for others. He loved that about her. She looked for the good in everyone. He thought she was a little naïve, but she was proven to be right more often than not. "But I don't want Leah to be here by herself."

"The others will be back soon," Renesmee pouted.

"I know they will," said Jacob. "But you are her favorite. Plus, I need you here so that you can read her mind to the others. That way if we need help, she will be able to tell you and you can let the others know."

"OK," she said. Jacob just hugged her tight as she nestled her head into the crook of his neck. He just scent marked her several times before Edward cleared his throat to let him know that was enough. He smiled and kissed her cheek before breaking the embrace. This earned a glare from Edward, but his eyes held no malice in them. He knew that Edward was ok with him dating his daughter. He was just stuck in the 1800s on how people should date. Bella was working on that with him.

"We are leaving to go to the airport," said Carlisle. "Our plane leaves within the hour."

Esme went over and hugged each of the wolves. Telling each of them to be careful and to say hello to each of the family members for her. She promised Quil that she would make some brownies when they were all back together.

Edward and Bella hugged their daughter before heading out of the house to meet with the others who were waiting outside. Jacob was giving Leah last-minute instructions before he shifted into his giant wolf. Quil and Embry were already in their wolf forms pacing around, ready to get going.

Leah and Renesmee watched as Edward looked at Jacob and gave a nod of his head. Then they all sped away from the house leaving the two girls behind. Renesmee was anxious that someone would get hurt or worse. Leah was slightly annoyed and relieved all at the same time. Annoyed that she was not going, relieved that she did not have to face her old pack.

"We should be back soon," said Carlisle has he loaded two small suitcases into the trunk of his car. Esme hugged them one more time before she got into the passenger seat. "Make sure you tell the others what happened. I am sure Alice already knows. But tell Emmett he is not to come barging in unless we need him. We will keep everyone informed once we know something."

Renesmee and Leah watched the car leave the driveway and went back inside without saying a word. Each lost in their own thoughts. This was the hardest part for them. To wait for information.

"I am going to go take a quick shower," said Leah. "Before I meet you on the porch."

"Ok," said Renesmee. "I will clean the kitchen and meet you out there." She knew that Leah needed to clear her mind. The thought of her old pack had brought up feelings that she needed to deal with before she went into the mind link with the others. Even though the Black pack did not delve into each other's thoughts and tried to respect everyone's privacy. She did not want them to be burdened with her feelings right now.

Renesmee finished cleaning the kitchen and putting things away. She went and sat in one of the rocking chairs that Esme had on the big back porch that overlooked the lake behind the house. Leah came out soon after wrapped in a towel and drying her hair with another. Renesmee got used to the wolves running around half-naked or fully naked that she did not even bat an eye when Leah walked over and removed the towel from around her and hung it over the banister. She removed the other towel from around her head and ran it through her hair one more time before placing over the banister to dry also.

She shifted into her gray wolf and sat down beside Renesmee. As soon as she got comfortable Renesmee put her hand on her and the connection was made. Leah was mind-linked to the pack. Renesmee with her abilities could join in also. There was a wave of happiness coming from Jacob as soon as he felt Renesmee enter the link. There was fake hacking coming from Quil and Embry as the sweetness of Jacob's feeling went through the link. Edward's voice broke into the conversation. He must have known that Renesmee was there when he heard Embry and Quil clearing a fake hairball from their throats.

"Are the others back yet?" asked Edward.

"No, I can hear them still talking with the neighbors," answered Renesmee.

"Sam is going to meet us at the river," said Jacob. The others just pushed harder to get there. Edward looked over at Bella and smiled before he gave a burst of speed and sprinted ahead of everyone else. She knew he wanted to get there first so that he could make sure it was safe. Even though she was now an almost indestructible vampire, he still wanted to protect her.

"Show off," thought Embry has he was unable to keep up with Edward's speed.

The others soon caught up with Edward as he was talking with Sam and his pack. Jacob could tell that Sam and the rest of his pack were on alert. Bella was beside Edward who was telling her what was being discussed between the packs. He knew that Leah was letting Renesmee know what was going on also. Renesmee informed them that the other vampires were back also, and she was keeping them in the loop.

"Jared was on patrol," thought Sam. "He became aware of a heavy sickeningly sweet smell that you vampire's get off. Coming from the glade where we had our battle. He alerted the rest of the pack. When we arrived, there is a barrier keeping us from going in. We can see the Vampires in there, but we are unable to get to them. Our teeth and claws cannot break-through."

"Was Victoria in there?" asked Bella after Edward told her what Sam had said.

"No," relayed Edward. "He said that the red-headed one was not there."

"Did anyone check the mountain?" asked Seth this time. "That is where we killed her at."

Edward informed Bella of Seth's concern. He could tell that Bella wanted to go check the mountain out also. He knew that Bella would not rest until she knew Victoria was not a threat to the family, especially Renesmee.

"Jacob is it alright if Seth joins me and Bella as we go check out the mountain?" asked Edward.

"Yes," said Jacob.

"We will meet you at the glade once we know the mountain is safe," said Edward.

He kissed Bella before they took off towards the mountain. He did not take them long to get up there. Even though the mountain was miles from where they were. Upon coming closer to the spot where Bella almost died from hypothermia. They heard voices. One sounded like Victoria talking.

"I don't need you no more," they heard her say.

"But you said you loved me," this voice sounded like Riley's.

"I could never love someone as pathetic as you," said Victoria. "You were weak and an end to a means. I used you to get revenge on the Cullens but you could not even do that. You are such a weakling and a loser. How could you think that I could love someone like you?"

"Please don't hurt him," said a new voice that Edward did not recognize.

"Don't worry little girl," said the voice of James. "You will do what we say, or this will be your fate also."

Edward sped op the mountainside. When he crested the cliff, he saw that James had Riley's hand twisted behind his back and Victoria was moving to remove his head. A small brown-hair vampire was standing off to the side. He could tell that she was scared. Edward barreled into James before he even knew that Edward was there. The force of the impact slammed against the side of the mountain, causing an indention in the side and rocks and debris falling on top of James. Victoria hissed and turned to see Edward helping Riley up.

"You," said Victoria with a voice laced with malice. "I will get even with you. I remember what you did to me. But this time you don't have anyone to help you."

"That is where you are wrong," said Edward. Bella appeared right beside Edward. "I am not alone."

A loud crash came from James as he leaped out of the debris. He landed beside Victoria, his face was in a snarl, teeth bore and venom oozing out of his mouth.

"I think that the odds are even now," said James. "Last time it was you and the mutt against her and from what she told me. You barely beat her. Now that I am here. The odds are more in our favor. Two against two."

Bella laughed out loud when James made his threat. "I see that you can't count," Bella said. "So, let me do that for you. I see four vampires and a very pissed off wolf. That has his entire pack behind him."

James and Victoria turned around to come face to face with Seth, who snarled at them and a deep rumble coming from his throat as he bared his teeth towards them. Salvia dripping down and hitting the ground. He looked ferocious. Victoria and James took a step back. So did Riley, he remember that it was that wolf that killed him. Edward squeezed his arm trying to tell him that he was not in any danger.

"I can see your gift as told you that it is best if you leave," said Edward. He knew that Victoria's special ability was of self-preservation. He saw what she thought and knew that they needed to run. James, on the other hand, was ready for a fight. He wanted to get back at them for killing him. "You might want to tell your boyfriend that if he stays and fights that you and he will both die."

"You don't scare me," said James.

"I am not trying to," said Edward. "But your mate's ability is telling her to run. So, unless you want to see us kill her before your eyes. I suggest that you heed her advice and leave. Before Seth grows inpatient and the rest of the pack arrives here."

"Come on," said Victoria trying to pull James away from the confrontation. She knew that they would not survive the encounter.

James just took a deep breath through his nose and looked at the small brown-haired vampire. "I will get you first."

He turned towards Victoria and they sped off the mountain and out of the area.

"What is your name," asked Bella to the small vampire, who was almost shaking at what she had just witnessed.

"Brie, Brie Tanner."

"Brie you can come with us if you want," said Bella. "We are going not hurt you." The small vampire reminded her of Renesmee in a way.

"You too Riley," said Edward. "We are not going to hurt you. Seth even apologized for killing you earlier. You don't need to be afraid."

Seth looked over at Riley and wagged his tell and cocked his head trying to convey to him that he meant him no harm.

"We know things are confusing right now, "said Edward when he read Riley's hesitancy. "We will tell you everything we know. But now is not the time. Do you think that you can follow us back down to the rest of the pack? They will not hurt you I promise."

Brie looked at Riley not sure about what to do. Riley was the one who always had the answers and plans. But now he was lost. She knew that he worshipped Victoria and to find out that your crush just manipulated everything about you was hard to recover from.

"We should go with them, Riley," Brie said to him. He just nodded his head still wary of Seth.

"Seth why don't you lead the way Bella will follow, then Brie and Riley. I will be in the rear to make sure James or Victoria does not try to attack us."

Seth bounded down the mountain with Bella and the rest following behind him. He linked to Jacob and told him that they were on their way back with two new vampires with them. He told Jacob to make sure that Sam's pack did not attack them.

They made it to where Jacob and Sam were. Both packs were there also. They were at the edge of the glade and there was this semi-transparent wall around it. They could see the other vampire in there.

"I assumed that they know we are here," said Bella as she saw the other vampires. They looked at her when they arrived.

"Yes," answered Edward for Jacob.

"They have made no aggressive move to get out either," said Edward relaying Sam's message to the others.

"When I woke up," said Brie. "I was the first. I was confused. I saw some of the other vampires come together before my eyes. It was like an artist was molding dust first, this dust turned into bones then flesh and clothes. I was shocked and wanted to find Riley. I knew that he went up to the mountain. So, I started to head there. I heard a strange sound like a ripping popping noise. I turned around and there was this lady standing in the middle of the glade with a staff in her hand. She just said that we would do nicely. She held her staff high and a shield-like thing came out of it. It covered the entire glade. I was on the outside they were on the inside. She said that she would be back soon. Some of the vampires tried to break it but could not."

"Look," said Bella as she pointed to the center of the glade.

They watched as the air was torn in two and pushed apart. A dark blonde woman stepped out of the portal that was created. Two other women were standing behind her. She said something to the vampires. They could not hear her. The shield prevented them from hearing.

"Edward can you read her mind?" asked Bella.

"I am trying," said Edward. "But she is blocking me. She is very strong. She is not human or vampire."

They then saw has more people came out of the portal. They all looked like they were trance and they came to stand between the women and the vampires. They watch as the woman pulled out a knife and sliced one of the human's arm. This caused the vampires to descend into a feeding frenzy as they attacked the zoned-out humans tearing them apart. The dark blonde woman just smiled has the humans were slaughtered.

Sam and the rest of his pack were going crazy trying to break down the shield. Jared had blood coming from his mouth as he tried to bite into the shield. Edwards was hitting it with all his might and could not break it down. Bella threw a boulder at it with no discernible effect on it. They watched as the last of the vampires had finished eating. The woman said something again and the vampires follow the other two women into the portal. Once everyone was in. The woman lifted her staff and the shield started to be pulled back into it.

"You are lucky. I let you live today," said the woman. "The master has plans for you later."

Jared raced towards her. When he was about to pounce on her she hit him with her staff and sent him into the trees. "Insolent," she muttered as she stepped into the portal and closing hit behind her.

Everyone was in shock at what they just saw. There was too much discussion going on in the mind links for Edward to relay to Bella, Brie, and Riley.

"I suggest that Sam you and your pack go warn the elders," said Edward. "Jacob, we have to get back and warn the others also."

Bella went over to make sure Jared was ok. He was knocked out cold and in human form. His heartbeat and breathing were steady. He took a hard hit. Paul had change into human form and took Jared from Bella.

"I will take him to the Elders," said Paul as the rest of Uley's pack came over to make sure he was ok.

"I can call Carlisle if you need me too," said Bella to Sam.

"He said thanks for the help and will let us know if he needs Carlisle's help," said Edward relaying Sam's message to Bella.

They watch the rest of Sam's pack leave, each of the wolves taking up guard positions around Jared. They instinctually put Jared and Paul in the middle to better protect him.

"We need to go also," said Edward. "Brie and Riley, I hope that you will join us. It is not safe out here by yourself."

Brie and Riley looked at each other and shook their heads they knew that on their own they would not make it. They followed Edward, Bella and the pack toward Beacon Hills. Hundreds of thoughts and doubts plaguing them.

**Graphic are on my wattpad story.**


	57. Ch04i Warlocks in Beacon Hills

Having gotten their luggage loaded into the SUV, Pogue tipped the valet for his help. He got into the middle seat with Reid and Tyler in the back seat of the three-row SUV. Caleb was driving, and Sarah was riding shotgun. Pogue checked his phone for messages. He had seven missed messages from Kate. He answered all of them. She responded back. But now they were in the only responding with the emoji phase of the conversation. He liked Kate a lot but was not sure if she was the one for him. She was beautiful and had a great body. But she just seemed a little too delicate to him. As to why he could not put his finger on it. He decided to let her figure out what she wanted first, then he would reevaluate where they were at in their relationship.

"Did you feel that?" asked Tyler from the rear seat. His face was alighted with wonder.

"Yes." said everyone excitedly, except Sarah. She did not understand what the magic users sensed.

"What the hell was that," stated Reid. He was still trying to wrap his head around what he felt. Normally when he crossed over a magical ward, it felt like static electricity briefly going through his body. He remembered when their fathers had taught them how to sense wards and then eventually, to make their own. Their fathers had then played a cruel joke on them. When they had just come into their powers and learned about wards, they realized that if they touched anything that had magical properties, it would give off a slight charge. They spent a whole summer testing many items. Only to later find out, that their fathers planted the wards to keep them busy and away from the more dangerous magical items. When they became more experienced with their powers, they figured out that the items that they thought were magical, in fact, were not. Their fathers finally showed them how to make wards and how to sense the different types. The one they felt crossing into Beacon Hills was unlike anything they ever experience before.

"What are you talking about?" asked Sarah looking afraid. She was trying to get over her fear of all things supernatural. She loved Caleb and trusted him. She even trusted his coven. But what Chase did to her. Taking over her body, invading her mind and manipulating her to do his will. That is what scared her the most. That, someone, was able to completely control her and she was unable to stop it.

"It's OK," said Caleb putting his hand on her thigh to comfort her. "We all just felt a surge of magical energy."

"Huh," said Sarah looking at him worried.

"It felt like an electrical bolt just went through my body," said Caleb giving her a smile for comfort. "It did not hurt."

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" asked Sarah.

Caleb looked out the front windshield for a moment before answering her. "I am not sure," he stated. He reached over and grabbed her hand. "Whatever it was, we will be ok." His voice was trying to reassure her. He knew that she was still concerned with Chase.

"Does anyone remember reading about this in the book of damnation?" asked Tyler changing the subject.

"We could have crossed someone's ward," said Pogue.

"Do you think Chase put a ward around the area to alert him when we are near?" asked Tyler.

"Well, if he did. He'd better be preparing for an ass-whooping," said Reid.

"If it was to alert him that we are near him, I don't think that we would have felt anything," said Caleb. "Why would he want to alert us of his presence?"

"Because he is an egotistical maniac, who doesn't know how-to put-up wards," said Reid.

Caleb did not answer. He looked over at Sarah. He could tell that she was scared and trying to hide it and he wished that she would have stayed back with his mother. She looked at him and smiled. She was putting up a strong façade, which he saw right through. He smiled at her to let her know that it would be OK. She just gripped his hand tighter,

No one said much for the rest of the ride to the new house. Each one lost in their own thoughts on what they just experienced. The SUV pulled into the long driveway. Caleb was pleased with Gorman on his selection of the house as he drove towards the front door. The house was off the main road. The old white Victorian farmhouse, with a high, three-pitched roof, had a large wrap around porch, with a swing on one end, set back far enough that you could not see it from the road. Caleb pulled up Gorman came out to meet them.

"Hi Gorman," said Caleb getting out of the vehicle.

"You should not be here," said Gorman grumbling to himself under his breath. "This place is not safe."

"I take it he is not happy about us coming here," said Pogue coming around the vehicle.

"He and my mother talk to each other too much," said Caleb.

"Mmph," said Gorman walking past them carrying some luggage up to the house.

They followed Gorman into the house. Gorman set down the luggage he was carrying. It was hard to believe that a man that looked as old as he did still have the strength of a man in his twenties.

"Mr. Garwin, your room is upstairs and to the right three doors down. Mr. Simms your room is across from Mr. Reid. Caleb and Pogue yours are to the left. Pogue, you are on the right. Caleb across from you. Ms. Wenham, you have the downstairs master suite. Which just happens to be right across from my room." The last statement was directed toward Caleb. He just smiled and picked up his luggage and went up the stairs.

Sarah smiles at Caleb knowing that he would still end up in her room or her in his. It was funny how Caleb interacted with Gorman. She knew that Gorman had been in Caleb's family long before Caleb was born. She knew that using the Power aged the person who used it. She knew that Gorman did not have the Power, but there was something about him that made her think that the Power had been used _on_ him. She had met Caleb's father. He should have been in his late 40s or early 50s. She thought he looked like he was over a hundred. Gorman took care of him. She knew that Caleb had wanted to spend more time with his father, but the Power took him too soon. Sarah suspected that Gorman tried to fill in as the father figure in Caleb's life. She suspected that the other guys probably also had daddy issues. Not to say that they had terrible fathers. More than their fathers were taken from them too early. The Power was a cruel taskmaster.

She thanks Gorman for the information and headed for her room. The master suite was a large room with a rather large walk-in closet next to the bathroom. She was from a middle-income family. So she was impressed with the grandeur of this house. The bathroom was larger than her room that she grew up in. She knew that Caleb had wealth. But he did not flaunt it like some of the rich boys did when she was first started attending Spencer's Academy back in Ipswich. Money did not impress her as much as Caleb's smile or smirk did.

She knew that Caleb was the one for her. She would be beside him no matter what. She knew that Caleb wanted her also. But there was this nagging feeling in the back of her mind that he was afraid to be with her. She suspected that it was because of his mom, who had to watch his father succumbed to the Power. His mother could not handle it. She turned to alcohol to ease her pain, leaving her son to deal with losing both his father and his mother - each to their own addiction. She knew that Caleb would not want his child to go through what he had to suffer through. She was determined to prove to him that he was not his father and she was not his mother. She could not dwell on that right now. She unpacked her luggage and examined herself in the mirror to make sure she looked presentable to everyone, before heading out the door. She still felt that she looked like a traveling hobo, with the way her hair had become so unruly during the trip here.

Everyone else got their luggage unpacked and things put away. They all ended up meeting in the dining room. Gorman had dinner ready for everyone. Gorman had made roast beef with carrots, mashed potatoes with a large boat of gravy sitting beside it, and a plate full of thick-sliced homemade bread.

"Gorman, I have missed your cooking," said Caleb,

Gorman just gave a small grunt as he put another side dish of green beans on the table.

"Yes, this smells wonderful," said Sarah looking around at all the food on the table.

"Thank you, Ms. Wenham," said Gorman with a very small smile showing on his lips.

"Gorman your food smell delicious," said Reid as he came in followed by Tyler and Pogue.

"Thank you, Mr. Garwin," said Gorman as he watched as everyone made their way to their seats. Caleb sat at the head with Sarah to his left. Pogue on his right, Reid beside and Tyler across from him and beside Sarah.

Gorman also brought out a fresh spring salad in a large bowl that he placed in the middle of the table. He knew that spell casting took energy. Even though he did not agree with them doing magic, he knew the cost that it took on the body. He wanted the boys to be healthy and full. All the years of taking care of Caleb's father had put him in a special position to know about the Power and its drawbacks. But if it wasn't for Caleb's dad, his daughter would be dead. He laid extra napkins on the table. Everyone started to dig into the meal.

"Pass the potatoes," said Pogue handing the green beans to Sarah.

"This brisket is so good," said Tyler closing his eyes while he chewed, savoring each bite.

"How did Gorman get such a nice house?" asked Sarah.

"I am not sure," said Caleb.

"Gorman how did you come by a house like this in this backwater town?" yelled Reid to Gorman who had gone back into the kitchen.

"Reid!" admonished Sarah.

"What?" asked Reid not understanding the reason Sarah was getting on his case.

"Yes," said Gorman as he came from the kitchen area. "This house was no trouble at all. When Master Danvers told me that you were all going to come to this town, I knew that you would need a large place for everyone. I called a realtor friend and inquired about properties here in Beacon Hills. He found this place. I must say, I got this place at a steal. The previous owners were very eager to sell for some reason. He said that the owners were worried about all the strange occurrences that have been happening around this area.

"Speaking of strange occurrences," said Caleb. "Tyler, after dinner would you place the wards around the house?"

"Sure," said Tyler. He hated putting up wards. He had to touch blood. It was not that he was squeamish around blood. He just did not like watching people bleed. The wards that he had to put up required blood from all four of them. The first time that they put up wards was when they were fifteen and sixteen years old. Thinking that they were old enough to start learning from the book of Damnation, their fathers gave them a copy of it. When they were kids, they were all excited about finding the Book of Damnation. Only later did they realize that their fathers planted a fake book with basic spells in it. It was not until their fathers had died away did, they inherit the real Book of Damnation. They kept it warded and locked. It was the one thing that they did not want Chase to have.

"Wards?" asked Sarah. She knew that they were Warlocks and that they could do amazing things. But she was always curious about the world of the supernatural, even if she was afraid of it. She knew she needed to face her fears. So, when they slipped up and said something that piqued her curiosity, she would always ask about it. She knew that Caleb would try to shield her from the morbid parts though. But Reid would not sugar coat things for her. She used every opportunity to inquire, so when they would let their guard down, she would ask them a question. Every time she would ask Caleb directly, he would try to protect her from the truth. She knew that the others would tell her the truth, not realizing that they might be endangering her. She knew it was dangerous to know too much about the supernatural world. But she did not care. She was a part of it now. She wanted to be informed so that she could be prepared.

"There are many different types," said Pogue trying to answer her question enough, but without getting on Caleb's bad side. He knew that Caleb wanted to protect Sarah at all costs. Pogue is more pragmatic than Caleb when it came to their loved ones knowing about the supernatural world. He and Caleb would argue over which method was better for protecting them. Letting them know as much about the supernatural as possible, which he and Tyler thought was best. Or, as Caleb and Reid thought, letting them know as little as possible. Both had their merits. So, when Sarah asked questions about witchcraft, he would try to tell her enough to satisfy her curiosity without upsetting Caleb. "What Tyler will be doing essentially, is putting a supernatural doorbell around the property to let us know magically, who is walking around the premises."

"Is there an audible sound?" asked Sarah. "Will I be able to hear it?"

"No," said Caleb who was giving a death stare to Reid, who was laughing and making doorbell sounds. "You don't need to worry about it. It is just a way to let us know when someone is coming near us."

More jokes were made by Reid, resulting in more threats from Caleb, but everyone continued to eat their meal. Sarah was frustrated that the conversation had turned away from her getting more understanding of the new world she found herself in.

"Would anyone like some peach cobbler?" asked Gorman as he walked into the room to begin removing dishes and silverware from the table.

"Gorman makes the best cobbler around," said Pogue as Gorman's entrance help change the subject from warding to something else. He saw that Caleb was thankful for the change also. He was still giving Reid the stink eye. But Reid was not paying attention to him. He was too busy clearing his food off his plate. Gorman always made them finish their meals before they could have dessert.

"So, what all does 'putting up wards' entail?" asked Sarah not letting go of her quest for more information.

"Nothing much," said Tyler this time not looking at Caleb. Sarah liked Tyler, she looked at him as a kid brother. Cute and sweet, but annoying at times. "Basically, I need some of their blood. I put it in a bowl. Say the spell then go outside and "paint" it on trees and other things as I say another spell. Nothing much really. Hardly takes any power."

Gorman comes back in and lays a pan of peach cobbler down in the middle of the table. "Gorman, this smell wonderful," said Caleb taking a deep sniff of the air. Everyone agreed as Gorman laid dessert plates and silverware in front of them.

"Oh my gosh," said Sarah and she ate her first bite. "I think I could marry you right now," she said as she took another bite with vanilla ice cream this time. Gorman just smiled at her praise.

Once dessert was finished and the table was cleared, Pogue went and got an old clay bowl and a sharp knife. He laid them in the middle of the table. He could tell that Caleb was nervous about letting Sarah see how they do spellcasting. Caleb knew that Sarah had seen him using the Power. But, using the power and doing a spell with the power was different. He did not want her to think that what they were doing, did not come at a price. Setting wards were some of the easiest spells they could do. But the power was seductive. The more you used the power, the more you wanted too. The bad thing about using the power was that it sapped your vitality causing you to age, depending on how much you used.

With the bowl in the middle, each of the warlocks grabbed the lip of the bowl.

"dës Schuel ze huelen an meng Cadeaus kréien," they said together. They removed their hands and Tyler grabbed the knife and cut a slit across his palm. He winced as blood started to gush out.

"a mengem Blutt, deen ech ze soen hunn, mir ze soen, wat fir ze kommen," Tyler says as he drips his blood into the bowl.

He passes the knife to Pogue who is sitting next to him. He does the same thing with the knife and repeats the words. The rest do the same. Once Caleb, who is last, drips his blood into the bowl, they again grab the lip of the bowl.

"Blutt op Blutt ruffen ze liesen mech ze wëssen, wien et geet," they say together. The blood gives off a slight glow before turning fading back to its normal red color.

"Now the boring part," stated Tyler. "I have to spread this stuff around the perimeter." He got up and walked towards the front door. He dipped his finger in the bowl and placed his bloodied finger on the doorframe. "erziel mer," he mutters. The bloody mark faded from view.

Tyler walked out of the house and down the driveway. Occasionally, apply a drop of blood on a tree or bush. Each time muttering the same words. The property was large, and this was going to take a while. The sun was just above the horizon. Tyler knew that it would take some time and that he would not get back until later.

Tyler made his way towards the lake at the back of the property. He sensed someone watching him. He looked around the woods, not seeing anyone. '_It was probably Reid trying to scare me," _He thought to himself.

Tyler continued his way to the lake. He dipped his finger in the bowl again and touched a tree near the lake he muttered the words again. The blood faded into the tree not leaving a stain. Tyler still could not get over the feeling that someone was watching him. He looked around one more time. The sun was setting so no shadows were being cast about. If Reid was there, he was hiding well.

"Reid, you can come on out!" yelled Tyler. He waited for a minute for Reid to come out. But he never did. Tyler just shook his head. Turning back towards the lake he ran right into a guy standing near the edge of the water. He was wearing jogging shorts and a tank top. He was a muscular good-looking guy. There was something about him though. The guy oozed danger. The guy was an alpha predator. Tyler's heart rate sped up. He'd never seen this person before. He had thought that the house was in a pretty secluded area.

"Hi," said the guy in a jovial voice. "I did not mean to spook you."

"Hi," said Tyler carefully hiding the bowl of blood behind his back before the guy could see what he was holding. He did not want to have to explain why he was carrying around a bowl of blood.

"Sorry, did not know someone was living in the house across the lake from us," said the guy. "I am Emmett. My family and I live across the lake."

Tyler looked towards where Emmett was pointing. He could not see anything. No houses or buildings of any kind. Was this a trick of Chase's? He looked back Emmett with suspicion in his eyes.

"Yeah, you can't see it from here," said Emmett. "It's like your house, we can't see it either. Neither of our houses is viewable from the lake. I guess whoever built them wanted the houses to be as private as possible."

"Yeah, I guess so," said Tyler still not convinced that this guy is who he says he is. Could he fight Chase one on one? He did not know. Tyler knew that he was the weakest in the Power compared to the others. He knew it was because he was the youngest.

"Emmett, you big oaf, why didn't you wait for us," said a beautiful blonde girl. She had her long hair up in a ponytail. She was wearing a tight jogging outfit that hugged her body in all the right places. Tyler could feel his pants feeling a little constricted as he looked at her. She ran over and kissed Emmett playfully. For some reason, it was erotic to him. Tyler had to look away or his pants would cause him to embarrass himself in front of the new neighbors. Did not need to let them know what he was packing.

"Yeah, you should have waited," said the pixie-like girl as she jogged up with a blond model looking guy following her. They were all very attractive.

"Well, I am sorry if I jog faster than a turtle walks," said Emmett teasing.

"That was not it," said the gorgeous blonde girl. "You cheated."

"Did not," said Emmett. "I just have a competitive edge."

"By competitive," said the blond guy this time. "You mean putting a pebble in someone's shoe forcing them to take it off. While you keep sprinting ahead."

"Look I can't help it if you don't clean out your shoes," said Emmett with a smirk on his face and a twinkle in his eye. Tyler could tell he was a practical joker type of guy.

"Hi, I am Alice," said the pixie-like girl. "This is Rosalie, Jasper, and that knucklehead is Emmett."

"Hi, I am Tyler."

"Nice meeting you," said Alice. "Sorry if we are trespassing on your land. We did not know anyone had taken residence here."

"No problem," said Tyler. "We just moved here."

Tyler was still struck by their beauty. Reid was going to flip when he saw Rosalie. He was still trying hard not to look at her. But his eyes betrayed him. He was caught by Emmett, looking at her tits. Emmett just went over to Rosalie and put his arm around her shoulder and kissed the side of her head. He also gave a slight squeeze to her left breast letting Tyler know that those were his. Tyler's pants got tighter thinking about both naked and having sex. _'I need to get laid soon.'_ He thought to himself.

"So," said Alice. "We are so glad to meet you. Will you be going to Beacon Hills High?"

"Yes," said Tyler trying to get his mind out of the gutter with these people around him. If all the people in Beacon Hills looked like them, he knew he died and went to heaven.

"What brought you here to Beacon Hills?" asked Rosalie. Emmett still had his arm around her. He wasn't squeezing her breast this time, but his hand was near it. Tyler knew if it was him and he was with her, he would have his hand there all the time. She was just that beautiful. It took him a while to answer.

"Uh," Tyler said, still trying to force his mind not to go to places it should not go when he looked at these people. The pixie girl was too alluring and mysterious. The blond guy reeked of sex appeal. The muscle guy embodied every cliché of masculinity there was. The blonde bombshell was everyone's fantasy. "My cousins' and I just moved here with our guardian. We recently had several tragedies in our family. So, our grandparents decided to send us away so that they could take care of things without having to worry about us."

Tyler waited to see if they bought his back story. They all knew that they would need one, so Progue came up with this explanation as to why they were in Beacon Hills. No one would believe that five teenagers and one caregiver would move to a new location on their own. The story was that their parents were all out on a party bus having fun when a drunk driver crossed into their lane and killed them all. Their grandparents took guardianship of them. The grandparents decided that they needed to start a new life somewhere away from the tragedy of their parents' deaths. The plan, as Pogue described, would play on people's sympathy. Who could resist a bunch of cousins all losing their parents at the same time?

Alice tipped her head down. Tyler had seen that look before. He knew that she was putting two and two together. That his parents were dead. In reality, his father was dead. His mother just did not give a damn about him. As soon as his father succumbed to the power, she had moved on. Tyler was just twelve years old when his father was consumed by the Power. He was a harsh man. Never showing Tyler much support. The only thing he was interested in was trying to keep himself alive. Only later, did Tyler learn that his father was looking into ways of making himself live longer. It did not work. He died in his late 30s. Tyler did not take it all that hard that he had lost his dad. His father was not around most of his life anyway. Caleb's dad was the one who went to his games and other events when they were growing up. Tyler's father was too busy to attend. He did not hate his father though. He just wished that he spent more time with him.

"Oh, I am so sorry," said Alice. Her voice sounded sincere. Her eyes seemed to be able to see into Tyler's soul through his eyes could and tell that she knew that he was not telling the truth. He knew that she did not believe him. But she did not say anything to contradict what he had said.

"I am doing ok though," said Tyler.

The wind shifted. Tyler moved the bowl in his hands behind him. He was still trying not to make it look obvious that he was holding a bowl of blood behind his back. In a flash, Emmett was next to Jasper with his arms wrapped around Jasper's chest. As if he was restraining him from attacking something. Jasper's eyes were wild, and his face was contorted into a snarl. Tyler felt threatened and worried for his safety for the first time since meeting them.

"Well it was nice meeting you," said Rosalie trying to alleviate his fears. "We need to get back."

Tyler watched as Rosalie moved to the other side of Jasper. It almost looked as if she and Emmett were supporting Jasper. Tyler did not understand why he felt that they were getting Jasper out of the area for his safety. He watched as they jogged or more less ran out of the area. Emmett holding onto Jasper's shoulder and Rosalie linking her arm with his other arm and speeding out of the area. Alice was right behind them. Tyler just figured his neighbors were weird.

Tyler finished moving around the property setting up the wards. He went to the middle of the lake and made a boundary with the ward. He could just barely see his neighbor's house off in the distance. He had a sense that they were more than just what they said they were. It could not put his finger on it, but something was definitely off with his neighbors.

Tyler finally made it to the back door. He smeared his finger in the bowl getting the last of the blood out of it and smearing it on the mantle and the door frame. He said one more spell that linked all the drops of blood together. He felt a surge of power course through him, letting him know that the wards were now active.

Tyler walked into the kitchen and saw that Reid, Caleb, and Pogue were already there waiting for him, each with sleep heavy eyes. He must have taken longer than expected to set up the wards. The clay bowl was placed in the middle of the table. They placed their hands on the bowl one more time and muttered the spell that activated the wards. They each felt the magic flow through their bodies, letting them know that their wards were completely activated.

"Sorry that it took longer than expected," said Tyler. "I met our new neighbors."

"What?" asked Reid now fully awake.

"Chill," said Tyler. "They did not know that we had moved in. They said they normally run around the lake for exercise."

"How many were there?" asked Caleb.

"Four," replied Tyler.

Tyler knew that Caleb was trying to figure out if Chase had enough power to pull off four deceptions at the same time. Once Caleb concluded that Chase would not have used that much of the Power to figure out where they were at, he calmed down some.

"Did they seem normal to you?" asked Caleb.

"Yes and no," said Tyler. "They seemed ok at first. But then, for some weird reason, they were in a hurry to leave."

"Do you think it was Chase trying to deceive you?" asked Reid. "We all know how gullible you are."

"I am not sure," said Tyler, ignoring the jab from Reid. "But, like I said they seemed to be ok at first, then at the end, it seemed they couldn't get away from me fast enough."

"Mmm," said Pogue. "I can feel the wards are in place. I say we get some sleep and continue this in the morning. I for one, need to get some sleep."

They all decided that sleep was the best option after they could tell that the wards were set up correctly. Tyler made it into his room. He was too tired to take a shower before bed. He was able to remove his shoes, shirt, and pants before crawling into bed. As soon as his head hit his pillow he was out. Magic took a lot from him and he needed his rest.


	58. Ch04j Went for a Jog Met a Kanima

Ch04j Went for a Jog and Met a Kanima

Sam pulled his light blue pick-up truck into the driveway of the house where they were staying. Four and Sarah had gotten out on the other side, as Sam was getting out on his side. Six pulled up on her red motorcycle. Sam reached into the bed of his truck and picked up his backpack. He looked over at Six. She was pulling off her helmet. He watched as her long blonde curls fell around her shoulders. He watched her blonde hair fall around her face as she shook it out by running her hand through it. She was stunning.

"You ok." he heard her ask.

"Uh... What..." Sam said, trying to come back to reality. She was smiling at him, mesmerizing him.

"Yeah." He heard himself mumbled.

She looked at him with a small smiled still on her face. Sam turned his head to hide the redness that he knew was coming from his face. He loved the way he felt about her. But Sam hated acting so awkward around her. He wished that he could be smooth. Instead, he always managed to get caught smiling and looking dorky.

"Sorry I was thinking about something," he said, playing it off and failing. Six did not say anything, but he knew that Six was not buying his excuse.

Mark drove up in his car and parked it beside Sam's truck. Mark routinely parked his car down the street. They had always done this since they have been on the run from the Mogadorians. They figured that if one of the vehicles got destroyed, they would have a backup one they could get too. Mark only pulled his car up to the house to unload supplies. Sam knew that Mark had gone to the grocery store when he left school.

"Hi," said Mark as he got out of the car.

"Hi," said Sam as he reached into the other side of the car and grabbed several bags of groceries.

Sam entered the kitchen and put the bags of groceries on the table. Sarah and Four went upstairs to put their backpacks away. Sam turned toward the door to go and get more bags. He saw Six carrying the remaining grocery bags in each arm. Sam went over there to help unload some of the bags from her. Six must of had ten plastic bags on each arm. For someone her size, She did not look like she would be able to lift that much weight. She looked at him like she was annoyed that he would try to help her. Sometimes, He just didn't know what to think about her.

The others were putting away the food. Sam decided to check the computer to see if there were any hits on for the Mogadorians. Sam scanned over the algorithms that Henri, Four's former Cepan, left them.

"So, anything?" asked Four.

"No, nothing today. It seems that the internet has been really quiet lately. I did find some interesting stuff about a new program that Cyperdyne has created that the conspiracies theorist say is going to cause World War III." stated Sam.

"Do you think that is has anything to do with the Mogs?" asked Four. Sam just shrugged. There were too many unsubstantial claims on the internet. "The ladies said that they were making dinner tonight. Mark and I are going for a run. Do you want to join?"

"Sure," said Sam. "What are the girls making?"

"I think stuffed peppers." said Four heading out the door.

"Yummy." said Sam. "Give me five minutes, let me finish in here. I'll change and meet you out front."

Sam finished setting up the next algorithm to search for Mogadorians. The last algorithm pulled in some weird stuff like witches, werewolves, and computers taking over the internet. He moved the strange information to a read later folder. Sam finished some more searches then went out of the computer room or as he likes to call it "The Command Center" and went upstairs and changed into his workout clothes.

After changing his clothes, Sam walked past the kitchen. He could see Sarah and Six working on dinner. Six and Sarah both stopped what they were doing. Looked at him in a way that said that he was intruding in their conversation, that was no doubt about him. Sam did not know how women could make a man lose all confidence in himself and feel like a complete fool around them. He knew all women did not make him feel this way; only this one golden hair beauty. She made him feel so unsure of himself. He just looked at them and kept on moving. He heard them laugh as he went out the door. He wiped his hand across his face hoping that it would keep the redness from showing.

"Women," he said under his breath.

"Huh?" said Mark as he was about to get into his car. Sam just shook his head to indicate that it was nothing. Mark gave a small smile of understanding. Then he got into his car and drove it down the street. Four was stretching and getting ready for the workout. He seemed a little preoccupied with the house across the street; there was a blue jeep parked in front with four teenagers getting out of it. Sam recognized two of them from school: Stiles and Jackson. Sam could tell that there was something up with them. He just could not figure out why they were rushing the red-haired girl into the house. They acted like they were trying to protect her from something.

"So, what do you think?" asked Sam to Four while nodding his head towards the house.

"I am not sure," stated Four as he stared toward the house openly. Four watched as the teenagers entered the house. He saw the tall skinny kid with a buzz cut, look out the side window near the front door, then quickly closed all the curtains and blinds.

"Well, that is a little weird," said Sam. "I think that the buzz cut guy is Stiles and the jock looking guy is Jackson."

"Yeah," said Four. "I just heard someone lock the doorknob and deadbolt. I believe that someone just shoved a chair against the door."

Sam looked over at the house again but could not see or hear anything. He would have to perform a more thorough background check on the people living across the street from them. When they rented this house, he did a routine background check on his neighbors. Other than a couple of speeding tickets and an old domestic violence case that was years ago. The entire street came up normal, nothing to alert the authorities or Mogadorians to them.

"Ok, are we ready," said Mark as he walked up. BK barked an affirmative as he rolled around the front yard. Bernie Kosar always loved to go on runs with them. Especially in the woods.

"Hey, BK, can you stay here today and keep an eye on the girls?" asked Four. BK jumped in the air one time. Then barked and ran around the car to the back yard. There was a doggie door just for him back there. It allowed him to go and come as he pleased.

Sam and Mark finished their stretches then they all started to run down the street. They ran together while in the neighborhood. Sam knew that once they got into the woods and away from any prying eyes. Four would take off and leave them behind, embracing the full use of his Lorien's abilities. Four did not have much training on how his Lorien abilities work as he was still coming into his powers. He knew that Lorien developed their legacies at different times. But his Cepan, Henri, trained him since he was young on how to survive in combat without his Lorien legacies. He was adept at hiding and stealth for survival. Henri had died while rescuing Four and Sam from a human collaborator for the Mogadorians. Sam could not understand how anyone could sell out their world to an invading alien army.

Four sped away from Sam and Mark. As he got further away from them, he said catch me if you can, he then disappeared into the trees. Their workout consists of trying to either evade Four or capture Four.

Sam and Mark continue to run along the trail in the woods. Their mission was now to try to attack and capture Four. This was hard because Four had the advantage of speed and strength, not to mention his legacies. These workout sessions were not really for Four's benefit, he had Six to help train him in Loric tactics. No, they were to help the humans better their skills. They watched as Four disappeared into the woods. Sam and Mark continued to jog after him.

"So, pincer?" asked Mark looking around the trail as Four went off ahead into the shadows. The setting sun created even more shadow areas and casting many more as it started to dip below the horizon; It gave Four more hiding places for their human eyes to strain and look.

"Mmm…, we did that one last time. I was thinking of 'seek and destroy'", said Sam quietly. They kept their voice at a low volume, knowing that Four might be able to hear them. He picked up on what Mark was not saying. They were never able to get the upper hand on Four. They thought that he always found out about their plans and was ready for them. So, they made up codewords when they thought he was listening to them. Seek and destroy meant bait and attack. One would go ahead of the other to draw him out. The other would come later to attack once Four was engaged. It never worked out for them, but they did like to make plans for their training. Six would sometimes look at their plans laugh, then tell them that it would not work.

"We have not done that one in a while," said Mark with a smile on his face.

Four raced ahead of them, giving the trail ahead of him a quick look to make sure no one was around. Once he was satisfied that there was no one in the vicinity. He took off, using his Lorien legacies. It felt great to use his enhanced speed and strength. Jumping into trees and over open spaces, he let his mind drift. It allowed him to sense any animals in the area. He got glimpses of squirrels running around a tree. Thoughts of acorns and foxes were on the squirrels' mind as they busied themselves looking for said acorns and watching out for foxes at the same time.

He made a quick run back to the trail; he came upon a clearing. His mind picked up something. He saw glimpses of a guy standing in darkness of the woods. Emotions of fear and anxiety radiating off him. The images came to him the same way as images of animals. He has never been able to read human minds or emotions; maybe his Anima's ability was maturing. He saw a man-like creature coming out of the woods along the path that he was on. It was about his size covered in reptilian skin like a snake. It even had a tail.

The creature was near the trail, crouched down beside it. Its body was tense as if it were ready to bolt at the slightest sound. Its snake head looking around at everything and nothing. Four was getting flashes of images of what looked like a room with an unmade bed in it; a guitar was in the corner, each image coming as a blur. A blurry flash of the image and a red-headed long-haired girl came into focus. Then there was another flash and the image changed it to what looked like a rooftop of a house. Another blurry flash and the rooftop changed to a blue vehicle park on the street.

Four watched as the creature scales started to fade away. The reptilian features on the creature's face dissolving into a more human form. Four watched in fascination as short blond hair slowly appeared on its head, its lips becoming more like human lips. Its eyes were still golden yellow with reptilian features.

"Where am I?" the creature hissed softly as if hearing its voice was unfamiliar to it. "Where am I; How did I get here?"

"Are you ok?" asked Four coming closer to the creature.

"I am not sure." the creature said, not moving.

"What is your name?" asked Four standing in front of the creature. Its scales were fading from its face. Four watched in allure. He wondered if this creature could be a Lorien and if this was their Legacy.

"No, he is mine!" said a voice inside the creature's head, usually Four only saw images when he had communicated with animals or with BK. They were always images with feelings attached to them, never voices or a monologue. Before Four could move, the creature reached out and barely scratched his arm. Four saw that the claw that had scratched him, had what looked like venom or a toxin dripping from them. He could feel a numbness spreading from the scratch as his body refused to respond. Paralysis was setting in. He fell to the ground flat on his back, head facing up. The creature bent down and had its scaly face directly over his as if he were trying to get a better look at his own. There was no trace of blond hair coming from the scalp. The creature looked like he did when Four first met him, all traces of the previous transformation gone. Even though his body could not move, he was still able to use his Legacies. Four used his telekinesis to hurl the creature into the trees. He saw it hit the tree making a loud smack as the creature's back hit the tree and fell to the ground. He was surprised that it could get up from the amount of force that Four had use to slam it into the tree. It scurried up the tree as if it were not even bothered that it was hurled 30 feet into it.

Four heard two people coming running into the clearing. He needed to warn Sam and Mark about the danger. He knew that they would be armed. But he was not sure if they were packing enough firepower to take the creature down. Four looked to where they were coming from, but it was not Sam or Mark. He saw a dark blond-haired guy run past him. A girl with blonde hair with spirals in it ran behind him. She looked around a saw Four laying on his back; he saw her run towards him. Her run was graceful and deadly at the same time. She looked like a cat stalking its prey when she ran.

"Are you ok?" asked the blonde girl as she ran over to him.

"It is still here… run," said Four but, the numbness in his throat made his voice sound weird to his ears.

Four looked at the tree where the creature had climbed up; He could see it slithering down from the top. The girl must have seen the lizard creature coming down out of the tree also for her eyes went large for a second, Four thought that he saw them changed too, but was not sure. The dark blond-hair guy jumped in front of her. He was so quiet that Four forgot that he was even there. The guy moved into a fighting position. Four notice that the end of the guy's fingers had long claws where nails should have been. The creature hissed at the guy then turned and hit the guy with its tail. The force of the blow flung him through the air at least ten feet. That creature was fast, or the paralysis was affecting him more than he realized, the creature then ran deeper into the woods out of Four's line of sight. Four looked over and saw the guy get up from the ground. There was a red mark across his face where the tip of the creature's tail must have struck him. The blond-hair guy looked pissed off and also in pain; it was written all over his face. The hit must have been harder than the guy was ready to admit. Four watched as the guy's eyes turned into what looked like cat's eyes, with long claws extended, ready to shred anything that came near him; he was ready for battle. Four could tell that he had combat training. The guy did not even hesitate as he gracefully ran after the creature. He reminded Four of a tiger stalking its prey.

"Wait!" yelled the girl, but the guy either did not hear her or just decided to ignore her. Either way, he was off like the wind following the creature.

Four heard two more people coming towards them through the trees. He saw the girl looked up towards where the noise was coming. Four suspected that it was Mark and Sam heading this way.

"Someone is coming," she said.

"Friends of mine." Mumbled-slurred Four, trying to move, but it was no use. He still was paralyzed from the venom.

"Do you know what that thing was?" asked the blonde-hair girl pushing a strand of hair from out of her face.

"No." grumbled Four trying to speak louder. The girl did not seem to have any difficulty hearing him.

"I have to go and find my friend, before he hurts himself." said the girl with a sigh in her voice like she was fighting a losing battle. "Sorry, so sorry for leaving you, but your friends will be here soon."

She removed her black hoodie and made a pillow out of it and placed it under Four's head making a small pillow for him. Four could tell that she was trying to make him comfortable. He appreciated the gesture, but he could not feel anything at all, which concerned him.

"Over here!" she yelled. Four could see lights from Sam's and Mark's flashlight shining on the trees around him from his peripheral vision. The girl looked down once more at him like she was making sure that he was ok. Then she took off in the same direction that the guy and the creature went. She was even more graceful than the blond-hair guy was and just as fast. Even with Four's enhanced hearing, he could not hear any sound coming from her feet hitting the ground once she made it into the tree line.

Sam and Mark jogged along the trail, keeping a good pace. Due to their new exercise program that they started. Sam is now able to keep up with Mark. Sam was a nerd in school, and Mark was the quarterback for the high school football team. Mark was used to exercising. Sam's exercise routine consisted of hiding from his abusive stepfather. Now that he joined up with the Loriens to fight the Mogs. He no longer wanted to rely on his intelligence, but he wanted to condition his body also. So, he started working out twice a day, morning, and night. At first, he hated it. His body protested with soreness. But now he looked forward to the workouts; his body had gotten stronger; he was quicker with his reflexes. He knew that he was no match for a Mog. But he wanted to last more than a few seconds against one.

They both sped up when they heard a girl's voice cry out from ahead of them. When they came to the clearing, they saw Four along the side of the trail not moving. He was flat on his back on the ground. His eyes were the only thing that told them that he was alive. They both pulled out their guns while running towards Four. Once they got near him, they each took a knee to make themselves a smaller target just in case whoever did this to Four was still nearby.

"Are you ok?" asked Mark while putting his gun away. He knew that Sam still had his out and that he would cover them if anything attacked them.

"Can't move," muttered Four, his lips not working. Mark looked him over and did not see any injuries except for a scratch on his arm.

"Six," Sam said into his phone. "Four is hurt…, don't know..., he is alive…, meet us at the entrance to the woods by the house." Sam put his phone away. "We need to get him out of here."

"Help me get him up," said Mark, scanning the area one more time for threats.

He and Sam each took an arm and pulled Four up. They managed to wrap an arm around each of their shoulders and started to walk. Four being taller than Sam made his feet drag on the ground, slowing them down. It caused Sam to struggle to keep Four upright.

"When need to do a chair-lift," said Mark, stopping their forward movement. Mark turned towards Sam and grabbed his arm that was around Four's back. "Lock this arm with mine around Four's neck." Sam pivoted and grasped Mark's bicep as Mark did the same to his. "Now bend down and put your other arm behind Four's knee and grab my forearm." Sam did as Mark suggested locking his arms with Mark's. "Now, rise and walk sidestepping as we go."

"Wow, where did you learn this?" asked Sam. He and Mark were making better time getting out of the woods now that he was not tripping over Four's feet.

"Boys Scouts," stated Mark nonchalantly.

Sam just raised his eyebrows and nodded his head at the revelation. He would have never pictured Mark being a boy scout. Football camp, yes. But an outfit with badges, no he could not picture Mark in a boy scout's uniform.

They made their way out of the woods and onto their road. A car pulled up beside them; an elderly couple asked if they were ok. They just replied that they were out for a jog and that their friend sprained his ankle. The elderly couple just told them to put ice on it and drove away, not waiting for a reply or offering any more help. Moments later, Six and Sarah arrived in the blue pick-up truck. Sarah opened the door and leaped out before Six had time to put the gear in park.

"Four, Four," said Sarah as she ran toward them. Her face shown with worry.

"Fine," mumbled Four. He could do nothing as her hands ran over his body, looking for any injury. He wished that he did not get paralyzed and that the others were not around. He might have kind of enjoyed this attention.

"Let's get him into the truck," said Six looking around once she was satisfied that there was no one in the area. She used her telekinesis and levitated Four into the back of the truck with his back against the cab. Sarah and Mark got into the truck's bed with him, Sarah holding onto his hand as if she were never going to let it go. Mark, on the other side of him, checked his pulse and breathing to make sure he was still ok. Six was in the back also to stand guard; Sam hopped into the driver seat and drove towards the house. A brown owl flew through the passenger window and transformed into a beagle. BK barked at Sam. Sam understood that BK was telling him that the coast was clear for them to head home.

Sam parked the truck at the rear of the driveway. So, that they could have easy access to the back door to carry Four inside and away from prying eyes. He helped Mark pull Four from the bed of the truck and towards the back door. Four felt lighter than before. Sam knew that Six was using her telekinesis to help them. They followed Sarah into the house as she held open the back door for them. They put Four on the couch in the living room. Sam went towards the windows to see if anything suspicious had followed them.

'Hang in there," said Sarah rubbing her hand through his hair nervously looking at him.

"I will be ok," said Four trying to comfort her; His voice still sounded wrong to his ears.

Six came along with Four's legacy box. She pulled out a smooth rock and placed it on his arm, touching it to his skin lightly. She slowly slid the rock down towards his hand and fingers; she removed it away from his arm with a frown on her face. Why wasn't it working?

"What's wrong?" asked Sarah.

"I don't know," said Sam. "We were jogging along when Four decided to go ahead of us. Like he normally does. We heard a girl's voice call out "over here"; When then found Four lying in the middle of the clearing, with someone's hoody under his head, not moving."

"I ran into a creature," mumbled Four. His mouth was moving better than earlier when he tried to talk to the girl in the woods. Whatever that creature used to paralyze him must be wearing off. Six looked at him with alarm in her eyes. She knew that the Mogadorians had used genetically modified creatures that attack her home planet of Lorien. She had heard stories from her Cepan Katarina, how the Mogs unleashed terrifying monsters that butchered the civilians. She hoped that they did not bring any more of them to Earth, than the ones that they encountered at Paradise High. They used two Pikens to help them out in that attack.

"I don't think that it was a Mogadorian's creature," said Four trying to get his tongue and jaw to work better. "Before the creature attacked me, I could… see into…, understand…, its mind." Four was not sure how to explain his animal telepathy to the others.

"Why isn't this rock working?" asked Six running the rock over his arm again.

"I don't think that I am injured," mumbled Four. "I think that I can move my finger a little."

They all looked at his hands. Six had placed the one that she had used the rock on and laid it against his chest; the other hand, Sarah was holding on to it. They each saw his finger on the one that Sarah was holding move slightly. Four could see relief flood through on Sarah's face. He knew that she was scared; that this paralysis could be permanent. He was secretly worried about it also. When the numbness first hit him, he was not able to process what was happening. During the drive back home was when the possibility of him being unable to move, started to worry him. But now that his speech was getting better, he knew that whatever was affecting him was not going to last.

"Mark, you are with me," Six said as she got up and placed the rock back into Four's chest. "Bring lots of firepower. Sam, you do a quick recon around the neighborhood. BK, you protect the house; Sarah, you protect Four."

Everyone moved, Six went to put back the chest away; She grabbed her weapons from her stash. Sam grabbed some more ammo for his gun and stuffed it in the pockets of his sweatpants. He then headed out the front door and started to jog around the corner to make sure that the neighborhood was safe. Mark grabbed a high-powered rifle and headed towards the truck outside, waiting for Six to lead the way. BK transformed into an owl and flew out the door behind Mark. He landed on the highest pitch in the roof so that he could see all around the house. Sarah made sure Six was comfortable once that she was satisfied that he was not in any danger. She checked all the weapons that were stashed around the house were ready in case she needed to use them in a hurry.


End file.
